Of Magic and Might
by Olympusseriesisawesome
Summary: Set during OoTP. Dumbledore is worried about the war against Voldemort, and as the goddess of magic, Hecate approaches him with an offer of aid. Dumbledore accepts. This leads to the Wizarding World learning about the gods, and our favorite demigods going to Pimplypigs! Sorry, Hogwarts!
1. Percy I

**Hi everyone! So, I'm back. I figured I should upload this a few weeks or so after I finished The House of Hades, so here I am! Also, it might be noted that I'm on holidays, so I've got plenty of time to write, read and publish FanFiction! Woohoo!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned PJO, I would not have wrote a fanfic concerning the House of Hades, which is yet to be out (OMG 10 days! ~ for me). I would also live in America. Therefore, I am not Rick Riordan and do not own anything from PJO or HoO. If I was J. , I would be living in Britain, not Australia, and I would be busy writing the new series of spin-off movies in the Potterverse. So I do not own HP either. In fact, I don't own anything except the plot.  
**

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**Chapter One**

**Percy**

I was instructing a daughter of Iris on how to approach pegasi so they would accept you when Connor Stoll rushed in. Children of Iris were normally great equestrians, but for some reason the pegasus she liked, a white mare with a hint of gold (Annabeth says palomino, but whatever) was shy around her. I'd just finished informing her on how to groom pegasus wings when Connor Stoll bursted in.

I'll admit, Connor was the last person I'd been expecting. You see, after his and Travis' prank on the Nemesis cabin went crazily wrong and resulted in them being cursed with bad luck for a week, Chiron took it a bit further and sentenced them to two weeks of stable-cleaning duty, without help from the nymphs. Publicly, Connor and Travis complained that their shirts still smelled of stables. Privately, the pegasi had told me it was the worst two weeks of their life.

Anyway, as soon as he came in, he said, "Percy, Chiron wants to see you in the Big House," before rushing out again, one hand on his nose. I gave the daughter of Iris an apologetic smile and left for the Big House rec room.

When I finally got there, half the counsellors were already there. I saw Piper, Nico, Travis, Clarisse, Katie, Will and my beautiful Annabeth all sitting in front of the table. Nico and Katie were trying to best each other's powers – Katie was making a plant bloom, and Nico was trying to stifle it with shadows. It made a pretty strange sight, a row of wilted flowers all around the edge of the table. Piper was whisper-charmspeaking Travis into giving her purse back, and Will was watching Clarisse polish her spear with a half-annoyed look on his face. Probably annoyed because he knew he was going to have to fix the injuries caused by the spear.

I took a seat next to Annabeth and gave her a peck on the cheek. She smiled back at me, moving and revealing a notebook on her lap. There was a design of a statue on the paper, of somebody with a bow and a quiver of arrows on his back.

"Apollo?" I enquired, causing her to grin.

"Right. What do you think about it? Does it look like him?"

I studied the paper closely. "Well, I think Apollo's cheekbones are a bit more pronounced, just a bit, and his hair is normally a bit more tousled. That's based on the last time I saw him, the party…" I trailed off, wincing slightly at the reminder.

My girlfriend grimaced as well. "Don't remind me. I think that mentally scarred all of us, even Ares' kids." She would probably have said more, but just then Connor crashed through the door with Leo and Lou Ellen.

"Ah, excellent, Connor. Good, you're all here," said Chiron. I started to feel nervous. The Giant War had been less than eight months ago, and we (the seven) still had terrifying nightmares every second night. I really, really hoped we weren't about to get ready to save the world again. Isn't two times, like, the max for the saving-the-world deal? Although, knowing my luck, that deal probably wasn't for me. It was far more likely that I'd got saddled with the save-the-world-every-year-once-you-turn-twelve deal.

Leo voiced my question, and, thank the gods, Chiron shook his head. "Nothing quite of that kind. It's likely to be much, much easier. How much do you know of wizards and witches, heroes?"

"Aren't they the black pointy hat people waving sticks on Halloween?" asked Travis.

Lou sighed. "Gods, Travis, you're so dense sometimes. Ages ago, my mother, Hecate, blessed a group of mortals with magic. Chiron's talking about their descendants. Is that right, Chiron?"

Chiron nodded. "Yes, my dear." Travis grumbled something about not everyone being know-it-all magical people. "Now, in their world, they are facing a Dark Wizard, which is a wizard who has used magic for dark purposes. He is called Lord Voldemort, and he –"

If Chiron had wanted to keep our attention, he really shouldn't have said 'Voldemort', because as soon as he had uttered the name, we all burst out laughing.

"Voldyshorts? Chiron, did I hear you right? Oh my gods… Voldyshorts! Voldyshorts!" Travis was gasping for breath.

"Voldeywarts... I… can't…breathe." Connor gulped frantically for air.

"Mouldy Warts? He is so creative… Chiron, you're serious?" Leo was rolling on the floor, laughing like crazy.

"Moldy Shorts. Someone needs to do his laundry." I snickered, trying – and succeeding – to not roll on the floor and lose all semblance of dignity. Then again, even Piper and Clarisse were laughing aloud, and they had the most control over their emotions out of all of us.

Chiron waited patiently until we stopped laughing. "Now, as I was saying, he is a dark wizard. About fifteen years ago, he tried to kill a boy named Harry Potter. For reasons we may never fully understand, Voldemort's curse rebounded and hit himself instead. But last year Voldemort returned, using an ancient ritual, and attempted to kill Harry. So far so good?"

We all nodded, and Annabeth went to the main question. "So we are going on a quest to protect this Harry Potter?" she asked.

Chiron nodded. "Yes, Annabeth. You will all reveal yourselves at the start-of-term feast. The aim is to make yourselves known to Voldemort and his allies. After that, you have plenty of options and plans, and I'm sure you, Annabeth, will be the person who comes up with a lot of them. Just be careful which course you take."

Annabeth nodded. I could already see the gears turning in her mind as she processed a million ideas at once. She would probably dismiss half of them later.

Katie raised her hand. "Who will be going?"

"A good question, Katie. The answer is all of you. Pollux will be staying here as his father does not approve of quests in general –" That explained why out of all the (original) cabin leaders, he was missing, "-and Malcolm and Chris will be going also. Jason, Frank, Hazel and Thalia will be there as well." Piper's eyes brightened – we all knew she missed him, but Jason had to deal with Camp J stuff (namely, discrediting Octavian).

"You will be going on the Argo, this is to avoid Zeus and Poseidon's… annoyance. The school, by the way, is in Britain. Nobody –" Annabeth, Clarisse and I shared looks of amusement "- can pinpoint the exact location, but Festus should be able to locate it. Oh, and try not to kill each other on the trip." I silently snorted. Even if they were the best of friends (which we weren't), five kids of the Big Three were bound to start an argument, and it was likely to be sooner than later. Then again, five kids of the Big Three would probably attract an army of monsters, so maybe we'd be too busy repelling monsters and wouldn't have time to argue like we usually do. Our combined scent was probably the equivalent of screaming, "ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET" to monsters. Not that we were easily defeated and all, but it kind of gets annoying. Oh, and not to mention that another half-dozen demigods would be with us, including all members of the Seven. We might as well send up flares and use normal cell phones every second.

"Now, the school term starts on September 1st. That gives you just over a week to sort everything out, including seconds-in-command. By then, Jason, Hazel, Thalia and Frank will have arrived. When you arrive, display a bit of your power. Wizards like shows, and whichever way you choose to defeat Voldemort, this will certainly arrive as news for him and will aid you, regardless of whichever course you plan to take."

"Now, in the wizarding world, Voldemort terrifies people so much, they refuse to speak his name, calling him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. This is superstition, unlike monster names – feel free to call him whatever you want, unless you plan on infiltrating his ranks of course. I highly doubt he will take kindly to being called Moldy Shorts by one of his 'followers'. And one more thing: wizard spells have very little effect on demigods because of the immortal blood in your veins. Lou's spells effect you because she is a demigod herself and magic casted from a demigod does have some effect on another demigod. The gods will be providing you with weaponry and armor for monster attacks – yes, the Laws forbid them from interfering in a quest, but this is more of a request for aid than a quest, so they can help and have decided to. For the same reason, we do not need – or, indeed, have – a prophecy. Hecate will bless you with magic for the duration of your stay at the school. Lou, I strongly suggest you update their wards – their current ones are in shambles, there's even a curse on a teaching position that nobody has removed. Piper, Leo, Nico, Percy, Annabeth – I know it's been less than a year, but Voldemort on a monster scale would barely rank at a hellhound." At this, everybody released sighs of relief. "Think of it as a break. Any questions?"

"Before we introduce ourselves, who will know who we are?" asked Will. "Someone needs to tell the wizards about Greek mythology, and there's no way in Hades that it's going to be me." Nico muttered something about the desecration of his dad's name.

"The headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, has it covered," said Chiron.

Another sigh of relief – we wouldn't have to go through explanations to clueless wizards. Thank gods.

"Will we have wands?" asked Nico.

"Yes, Hecate herself has charmed them to help you 'fit in'," said Chiron. "She informed me that she will present them personally to you before you leave." Lou smiled. I would too if I was going to see my dad again. "Is there anything else?"

"Who commissioned this quest – I mean, request for aid?" asked Clarisse.

"Lady Hecate was worried about the prospects of her world, she therefore approached Albus Dumbledore – as a mysterious woman – asking if he was willing to accept powerful outside help bring a swifter end to the approaching fight. He agreed, so she sent this request. Anything else?"

When we all shook our heads, Chiron said, "I think you should enlighten Malcolm and Chris now."

We all got up and headed for the door. Connor though had one last question. With his hand on the frame (he was the first at the door) he said, "Chiron, you never told us what the name of the school would be. It was always 'the school'. What's the name of the school?" We all stopped, turning to look at him.

Chiron seemed to debate with himself for a second, as if wondering whether to trust us – or maybe wondering what our reactions would be. After an eternity, he said one word.

"Hogwarts."

We stared at him. He looked right back at us. I swear you could have heard a pin drop in the room.

Then every single last one of us – even Nico and the girls – doubled over and started laughing.

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**So what do you think? Good? Bad? Typical? Please keep reviewing!**

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	2. Nico II

**Wow, 12 reviews in the first chapter! Everybody, THANK YOU. You all get cookies! (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)**

**As for some answers to the reviews:**

**Son of Zeus0001 ~ I like your Olympian Metal/cuts spells idea, so it will be introduced in this chapter. More uses later on. I did take quite a while on your second idea before I decided not to after thinking about a scenario where they might need two weapons instead of one. But it was an excellent idea! Maybe you should try your own luck at HP/PJO crosses.**

**Guest ~ _all_ titles might be a bit overboard for the wizards. Instead, I think it might be a good idea to let them know of their titles maybe after the Sorting so they don't go O.O again that day. There'll be plenty of O.O's coming from the wizards though!**

**PercabethFanatic123 ~ I'm going to assume 'stiffeners' was a mistake and it's really 'students' because otherwise I'm lost. There will be *four* Hogwarts demigods but during the course of this fanfic they'll all show their demigod side more because that's the more powerful side (Gods VS Wizards... the latter will lose). But that'll be all the Hogwarts demigods, and I'll try not to let them have super-major parts in the story. As for the flashbacks and nightmares about Tartarus - on it :)**

**Just a side note: I'll only respond to reviews that have suggestions and not ones that go 'update'. Cheers!**

**Disclaimer: If I was RR, I would not be planning to go to the bookstore immediately after school on October 8th to pick up HoH. On the other hand, if I was JKR I wouldn't even be going to the bookstore to pick up HoH. Will that do?**

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**Chapter Two**

**Nico**

If Chiron thought we had reacted to the name 'Voldemort', well, our reaction to 'Hogwarts' was a million times stronger.

Leo, the Stolls and Percy were all ROFL (rolling-on-the-floor-laughing), Will had collapsed on the doorframe and was gasping for breath, and I was doubled over clutching my side. (Contrary to what Thalia says, I am _not_ emo). Annabeth was desperately trying to regain her breath, while Katie and Lou were pounding the floor with their fists as they laughed. Even Clarisse, who barely showed emotion, was chortling like crazy. The only person with even a semblance of restraint was Piper – I guess it was the Aphrodite perfection thing – and even she had a wild grin on her face. But seriously, who named their almighty wizard school after pig's skin disease?

After about ten minutes of all of us cracking up, we managed to calm somewhat. At least, we managed to calm until Leo asked Chiron if Hogwarts had a sister school, and whether or not it was named something ridiculous like Pimplypigs. That just sent us into uncontrollable laughter again. This time even the girls ditched attempts at dignified restraint and joined us guys ROFLing. I was pretty sure I was going to die of laughter.

Piper finally managed to regain enough control to charmspeak us into stopping, although every few seconds Leo and the Stolls released chuckles. I had to breathe deeply and think of everything other than pigs before I managed to calm down, even under the charmspeak.

"Thank you, Piper," said Chiron. "And as for your question, Leo, Hogwarts does not have a sister school. It is the only one of its kind in Britain, and the nearest magical school after it is Beauxbatons, in France."

"Ou est Beauxbatons?" asked Piper. "Et qui est le principal?" My French was just enough to guess that she was asking where Beauxbatons was, and who was the principal. And I'd only guessed that because I reckoned 'principal' was the same in English and French.

"Beauty Queen, you're speaking in French again," sighed Leo. "Switch back, please."

Piper blushed. "I was?"

"Yes, dear," answered Chiron. "As for your question, Beauxbatons located in southern France. Like Hogwarts, it is Unplottable, so it cannot be mapped. The current principal is Madame Olympe Maxime." Piper shrugged.

"Oh, and Nico, I do believe that you've heard of Voldemort." Chiron must have seen the baffled look on my face, because he added, "He used to be called Tom Riddle."

My smile vanished instantly. Seeing my expression, Annabeth pressed on about Riddle, and when I started to speak, everybody leaned forward slightly.

"Riddle was this mortal who killed thousands of people years and years ago. Father hasn't stopped ranting about the paperwork ever since. The pile is enormous; almost enough to fill the shrine of Artemis that was blown apart and recreated after the Titan War. And as if that wasn't enough, Riddle had the nerve to split his soul into a bazillion pieces, so he effectively couldn't die. Thanatos was furious about that. We have one piece of his soul in custody, but we can't judge him unless we have the whole thing. He'd go to Punishment either way, but that's just the law of the Underworld. He also went on to name his followers _Death Eaters_. Thanatos was understandably upset over that."

Percy made a face. "Look, I know Thanatos is a really buff Cupid and all, but why in the name of Zeus would anyone want to _eat_ him?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Prissy, it's called symbolism. Duh." At the incredulous looks she was getting, she snapped, "I don't spend all my time fighting, you know."

I snorted. "Actually, you'd be surprised at what some of the nymphs in the Underworld would do to catch his attention …yeah, well, Father and Thanatos haven't stopped being angry over them ever since. The 'Death Eaters' in custody are all somewhere in the Fields of Punishment. Just imagine Sisyphus' and Tantalus' punishment combined, and multiply it by a hundred. That's what those guys have. And I think they deserved it. It wasn't just He-Who-Needs-To-Wash-His-Pants who was murdering, the Death Eaters were as well. The Furies think they were let off too lightly." I grimaced. "You should have seen the day Rosier or whatever was being judged. They complained that he should be sent to Tartarus." The room seemed to grow quieter at that. I knew why; it was almost taboo now to mention Tartarus, because of mine, Percy's and Annabeth's…experiences. We still had the occasional flashback, but thankfully they had become rarer (like once-in-a-month rare instead of five-times-a-night rare)

Annabeth grimaced. "That's some punishment." The room stayed quiet.

Chiron cleared his throat. "I think that's about it, now why don't you go and enlighten Malcolm and Chris?" We dutifully left the Big House for our cabins.

Later that day, Malcolm and Chris had to be brought to the infirmary to be treated for laughter.

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A week later, we were all ready to leave. The week had been surprisingly peaceful. During that time, Leo had readied the Argo, I had contacted my father about the quest-that-is-not-a-quest, Athena had completely destroyed Ares in Capture-The-Flag, and the last members had arrived.

After Thalia, Frank, Jason and Hazel arrived, Chiron called all of us to the Big House again. We were formally debriefed. Jason, Frank, Hazel and Thalia almost died of laughter at the word 'Hogwarts', and Leo announced that it would take the upgraded Argo (now dubbed Argo III) two days to get to England, or three if you counted the time difference. We set the time of departure to two in the afternoon, so we'd arrive at about seven in the evening on September 1st.

The only really new thing was Chiron asking Lou to be the leader, which she accepted. I wasn't really very surprised – Lou was the only one of us that could do magic naturally, and I highly doubted the Seven wanted to lead a quest anytime soon (in fact, I think they would have been quite happy with 'never'). When Lou accepted, I saw all members of the Seven sigh with relief, and I didn't really blame them. Oh, and Chiron added that our weapons, like ourselves, could absorb magic. His exact words were 'Celestial Bronze cuts through spells, Imperial Gold deflects spells, and Stygian Iron absorbs spells'. He also added that he didn't think we'd need to really use this information, though, since _we_ could deflect/absorb spells. Yeah.

A few hours before we were meant to leave (we had _all_ woke really early and packed, we that that excited), Hecate appeared with our wands.

"Your parents selected these wands," she explained. "There seems to be a good deal of symbolism attached to them."

Hecate was proven true as soon as Thalia received her wand. It was… _pine_, with the feather of an eagle. From the look on her face, Thalia wasn't very amused. The rest of us, however, were all laughing our heads off. Pine, her tree, with a symbol of her father. That was definitely symbolic all right.

In the end, the wands we received were:

Jason – oak and a spark from the Master Bolt (*shudders at reminder*)

Thalia – pine and eagle feather

Percy – willow and mermaid hair

Katie – beech and an ear of wheat from Demeter's sacred cornfields (Somehow, I wasn't very surprised. Come on. This is _Demeter_ we're talking about. I'm just shocked it wasn't 'beech and flake of Special K cereal'.)

Clarisse – ash and Stymphalian feather. (Makes sense, those birds _are_ her dad's pets)

Frank – walnut and wild boar tooth

Annabeth – olive and owl feather (SURPRISE!)

Malcolm – cypress and snake scale (I didn't expect that, though)

Will – laurel and a ray from the Sun

Leo – eucalypt and a cinder from Hephaestus' forge

Piper – mahogany and a drop of Aphrodite's perfume (Piper didn't look too amused by the perfume part)

Connor – cedar and hawk feather

Travis – elm and hare pelt

Chris – birch and cat-eye

Hazel – _hazel_ and Thestral hair

Me – poplar and _pomegranate seed_ from _Persephone's garden_.

Oh the coincidences.

I didn't get to learn about Lou's wand, because Hecate took her a few metres away for a private chat. None of us were stupid enough to go eavesdrop on a goddess, so none of us knew what they were saying. Either way, Hecate vanished afterwards and Lou came back to us.

We didn't get the chance to ask either, because just then Leo – who was the only person not to be staring at their wand or at Lou and had already gone up to the Argo – announced, "Twenty minutes until takeoff. Please board the _Argo_ and confirm that your belongings are present."

Twenty minutes later, after we had confirmed and re-confirmed that everything and everyone was present, with the entire of Camp Half-Blood watching us, Leo pulled on the lever, the sails snapped to their full length, and the Argo shot into the azure blue sky.

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**And that's Chapter Two. What do you guys think? Please review ~ always open to suggestions!**

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	3. Connor III

**Eleven reviews! You guys are amazing. As for some answers:**

** .Riptide ~ Draco is going to be a demigod, I'm afraid. I'll try not to make it to cliché. All the wizard demigods are going to show more of their demigod side during this story, unlike some others where they try to juggle the two personalities. But don't worry, they won't have enormously major roles. The most they'll do (according to my current plans) will be to provide information on Hogwarts students for their fellow demigods. They won't be doing anything like taking over the castle or suddenly being incredibly nice to Harry and co.**

**British-Banana ~ you're right on both accounts. The titles bit is going to come later on, though; the demigods are only going to display a little of their power at the opening show. This will still be much more powerful than the normal wizard show, though, which is to further their plans. I'm thinking of doing the titles somewhere around Halloween, where a monster attacks and then after they get rid of it, they can introduce full titles and make the wizards go O.O**

**ShippersUnite11 ~ don't worry. This is _definitely_ not Drarry. I'm not sure how you thought that, but just for clarification I changed the characters that are visible in the properties bit. Draco is obviously still present, but this way Drarry can be taken off the pairings list. -.**

**HOUSE OF HADES IS OUT! Woohoo! I still haven't got it, but I do plan to get it... sometime this weekend. No later! The portrait of Nyx, by the way, is freakishly awesome. The white eyes are kind of disturbing though... and for Eros, I always thought he had golden/white wings and blue eyes. Don't ask me why, but I've always thought that... weird, huh?**

**Disclaimer: Well, I live in Australia, so that kind of takes JKR off the list. (It takes RR off as well) But as for RR, why would I plan to get the House of Hades if I wrote it?**

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**Chapter Three**

**Connor**

The trip to Hogwarts – I still snickered when I heard the name, it was just ridiculous – was complete Hades. Sure, there weren't any monster attacks, but try being in a ship with a dozen ADHD demigods, with said demigods also being very dangerous and often prone to arguments *cough*kids of the Big Three*cough* . Unless you knew the hiding places, it's impossible to survive.

At first (by that I mean the first hour) it was okay. Then Thalia got into an argument with Percy, and being the demigods they were, they then proceeded char and soak half the deck. Every few seconds there was turbulence from Thalia's messed up mood. And because we were all so terrified, and because Nico, Jason and Hazel had no intentions of being the diplomat (we'd all learned through hard experience that being the diplomat between those two would result in being half-delirious from the amount of electricity Thalia used) despite the fact that they were the only demigods actually capable of moving, we were stuck below deck, listening to two very violent demigods screaming murder at each other. It's not a pleasant experience.

Two hours later, they stopped. That was great and all, but then the Brainiacs (never, ever, ever call them this to their faces) started rambling about a bunch of incomprehensible (Styx, I'm being corrupted! HELP!) facts about the school. On the plus side, they finally decided to go with the 'Don't Care' plan, which simply involved us treating Hairy Pothead and his friends like other Hogwartians. Okay, maybe Hairy Pothead is a bit mean, but I'm just practising for Hogwarts. Considering that, since we were using the 'Don't Care' plan, we had to treat Potter and co. just like other students. Maybe even worse, just to provide info to He-Who-Needs-To-Wash-His-Pants. The 'Don't Care' plan also involved infiltrating Voldy's ranks. The best part, though, was that it was completely **RISK FREE**. Which was really a nice change. (It was risk free because Voldy was a wiz-dude and his spells wouldn't affect demigods. Unless we got intel that Voldy was actually a demigod in disguise, I doubted the plan could get risky.)

Anyway, I decided to hole myself in my cabin to avoid being corrupted further. The dark side DID NOT have cookies.

After a while, Lou, my beautiful girlfriend (did I mention we'd been dating since the Giant War ended) came down as well and sat down next to me. She smelled like... well, something beautiful that I just can't place. But I've smelled it before - definitely.

"Did Annie and Mal drive you nuts with facts?" I asked.

Lou laughed. It was so musical. "Close. I did pick up some things though. Like that mortals are called Muggles."

I snorted. "Muggle? Seriously? And I thought Hogwarts was bad."

She grinned. "I know. Muggle. These wizards are _so_ creative. And did you know mortal devices like phones can't be used there?"

I froze. "What? But I just got a Hi-Phone!" I scowled.

Lou gave me a kiss. "I think Hi-Phones will work. They're Hephaestus' devices, right. Technically, they're divine devices, not mortal. So I reckon it will work."

"Thank gods," I said, sighing with relief. "It would suck if I couldn't use my Hi-Phone."

We made out for a couple of minutes before she pulled away. "How about I teach you some magic so you won't fail epically?"

I grinned. "Sure! But don't you think we should ask the others? It wouldn't really be fair on them."

Lou sighed. "I suppose." Then her eyes lit up. "The training room. Connor, you can go get everyone." She sprinted off.

I sighed before leaving my room to round up the others. Wow, I sound like a sheepherder.

Oh, yeah. Stupid ADHD. Anyway, after I got everyone into the training room, Lou gave me a sly smile.

"Okay, everybody," she said. "At Connor's suggestion, I've been asked to teach you about magic. Do you all have your wands here?"

We dutifully nodded and took them out. Thalia looked a little dubiously at her pine/eagle wand. I guess she was still pissed about the pine bit. Now that I think about it, Nico looked annoyed at his poplar/pomegranate wand as well.

"Since the most you'll probably do is kill monsters with your wand - no offense meant - I'll be teaching you mostly spells you can use in a fight. You'll be practicing on these." Lou waved her own wand (I still haven't figured out her combination) and two dozen or so rabbits leapt out.

Seeing our faces, she said, "They can't attack you back, that's why I picked them." With another wave of her wand, a bunny hopped over to face each of us.

Just to let you know, facing a bunny with a stick does not inspire confidence. It inspires stupidity. And a feeling of needing to get your mental health checked by Mr D.

Lou started speaking again. "Now, the first spell I'll be teaching you is a Stunning spell, which incapacitates the opponent by basically knocking them out. Or stunning them. The incantation is _stupefy_ and no, before you ask, it is most certainly not Stupid Fly. Now repeat after me: _stupefy_." We did so. "Point your wand at the bunny and say the spell again."

We dutifully did as she commanded, although the wand waving was rather awkward and Hazel almost poked Malcolm's eye out. To my immense surprise, my red laser thing actually hit the bunny, freezing it on the spot. I did a little victory dance to celebrate.

Yeah… Maybe I should have looked where I was going. As it happened, I danced straight into the path of Percy's spell. To be honest, it had already gone awry. So I suppose I did everyone a favour by taking the hit. In any case, I felt as if I'd just had a bucket of ice water dumped on me. My eyesight blurred for a minute, then went back to normal. So that was the effect of a demigod's stunner on another… Maybe I should get some ambrosia?

"Oh my gods, Connor, are you okay?" asked Percy, looking worried.

"I'm fine," I said woozily. "Just give me ame sobrosia…?" I trailed off uncertainly.

Within seconds, I had been handed a piece of ambrosia. I barely registered the taste because of my wooziness, but a few seconds later, it vanished.

"What the Hades was that?" I asked. Nico muttered something about the 'desecration of father's name'.

Lou's mouth twitched. "I think, Connor, we just discovered what exactly the effects of a demigod's spell on another demigod are. Wooziness and a headache. You alright to continue?"

I nodded. "Yeah, totally."

"Maybe we should move on to some other spells," said Annabeth. "I think we all got that spell now… except Seaweed Brain of course." Percy shot her a halfhearted look of annoyance.

By the next day, we had discovered several important things. The first was that, magic or archery, Percy's aim was still as dreadful as ever. He managed to stun me, give Piper acne (surprisingly, she wasn't too upset about it) and petrify Chris. The second was that, under no circumstances should a hyper Leo (Leo on caffeine) be allowed near a wand. With his natural fire abilities and a spell I promptly termed 'blow up spell', he destroyed twelve training mats and a shelf of Thalia's Green Day CDs. The result wasn't pretty – Thalia chased him around the ship, and when Leo took to the top of the mast to escape, she caused a bolt of lightning to fall directly on the rigging, basically trapping him up there until Jason rescued him at midnight (because he wasn't stupid enough to do it when Thalia was awake). That was nasty. Thirdly, we discovered that Will should not be allowed to cast _Lumos_ in a room covered with gold, fake or not. It blinded most of us for an hour. Thankfully, we also discovered the spells we found easiest to cast.

Percy's specialty appeared to be the water spell, _Aguamenti_, which wasn't really that surprising. Thalia and Jason excelled in _Wingardium Leviosa_. Leo was unrivaled in the fire spell _Incendio_, while Nico and Hazel found it easier to use earth-oriented spells. Piper aced the tidying charms – I guess it was the Aphrodite influence. Frank and Clarisse were incredible at the cutting spell _Diffindo_, as well as this strange spell that cut opponents like swords, called _Sectumsempra_. Probably their Ares side showing through. Actually, if you think about it, we were all good at spells that reflected our parents in some way. Katie for instance was good at growth charms, which were really a plant-Demeter thing.

The two Brainiacs turned out to be good at just about everything, although if they had an _Aguamenti_ match with Percy they would have lost hands down. Same went for Leo and _Incendio_. My guess was that they were good at everything, but they didn't excel in any particular area because they covered more than one area.

Will became the resident light master after his _Lumos_ blinded us all during that gold incident. He was also pretty good at the fire spell, but not like Leo. Then again, Leo creates fire _without _magic, so, yeah.

As for Travis, Chris and I, well, we were dominant in the 'pranking' style charms. Like for instance the Disillusionment charm and the Silencing charm, which would be amazing for pranks. And of course a charm that stopped the target from remembering. Maybe Lou shouldn't have taught us that. We would be able to pull off the most amazing pranks Hogwarts would ever see, and nobody would even realise it was us unless we revealed ourselves! I mentally promised to prank Hogwarts until pranks got boring. (Translation: NEVER!)

By the time we were nearly at Hogwarts, we could all do the spells okay-ish. Like, our speciality spells were incredible, but the other spells, according to Lou, would just scrape something above a 'T', like 'D' or 'P'. Said 'T' stood for Troll. I almost died of laughter again.

"We are now approaching Hogwarts," Leo announced from his spot in the control room. "In two minutes, we will be over the lake. Gentlemen, ladies, if you are on the deck, please do us all a favour and take a long look at the ground, because the perimeters are important. Let's do this, everyone!"

I smiled wickedly as I laced on my flying shoes and joined the others on deck.

The castle was amazing, amazing but foreboding as well. If it wasn't for the golden light spilling from the windows, I would have called it a mortal Haunted House at Halloween. I made it just in time to see Leo releasing his video scroll, bound for Hogwarts.

As we circled the castle in a slow, stately glide, the doors – gates? – of the castle opened. A mass of black-hat people spilled out. I guessed they were the wizards, and I made no effort to hide my grin. Travis caught my grin.

"Well then, ladies and gentlemen –" I started.

"- Let's give them a show they'll never forget!" finished Travis.

We all cheered before Leo told Festus to start the descent with fire, and our 'Demigods are Dangerous but Valuable Allies' show began.

* * *

**And that's chapter three, ladies and gentlemen. As always, please review!**

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	4. Hermione IV

**Fifteen reviews! You guys are awesome. Doughnuts for all (you can give them to Blackjack if you want) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:) (:O:)**

**Now, first of all, I must talk about House of Hades. If you haven't read it yet, GET IT. It is incredibly touching and brilliantly written and oh my gods Nico di Angelo... *starts fangirling like crazy* I won't post any spoilers up here in case you haven't read it, but my gods. The character development is incredible. And Bob... did that count as a spoiler? Okay, stop fangirling. *calms down***

**Answers! So...  
**

**Deadly Animals are Cute: Love the name. Although the spider kind of puts me off. As a matter of fact, I hadn't even considered the possibility that my fic might end up as the bashing kind, but I really do doubt it. Although, considering that the demigods are using the 'Don't Care' Plan, there may well be a bit of bashing after, say, a scenario where the Golden Trio wants to find out more and end up being bashed a little. I don't know if this scenario might pop up, but if bashing do occurs, it will completely fade by the time the demigods reveal it's a plan. So. But thumbs up for making me think of that!**

**Random Chick's Pen: Yes, Piper would be a master of the Imperius spell if she was going to use it. In fact, any demigod with the ability to either manipulate the Mist or charmspeak will be able cast the spell better than an average demigod, because manipulating the Mist and charmspeaking are in essence the same thing -making someone see/do what you want them to see/do. As for your other comments - yes, charmspeakers are not affected by the Imperius, although someone who uses the Mist can be affected if the caster is stronger than them. As demigods are stronger than wizards, and as the only two Mist-users in the books are both daughters of the Big Three, this scenario is unlikely to occur. And yes, there will be a pranking war! :)**

**Excalibur VS Riptide: So far, everything has been canon, except maybe the chapter of Nico and his personality. (My gods... HoH was epic) And yes, I will be changing some things to fit with the canon.**

**Son of Zeus0001: Love that idea. Maybe not slayer of the Earth Mother because I have no idea what will happen in Blood of Olympus, but _definitely_ something dramatic. How about defeater of Kronos, or escaper of Tartarus? :)**

**Disclaimer: If I was RR, would I really be fangirling over my own book? As for JKR, I'm a teenager. Does that prove enough or do I really need to go on and on?**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Hermione**

I silently cursed George Weasley in my mind as Ron and I scoured the train, looking for Harry. After a dozen carriages, we found them. Ron was fuming.

"How dare they!" he bursted out as soon as we were inside the carriage. "Those – those morons! I'll – I'll –"

"Slow down, Ron. What happened?" asked Harry.

Since Ron was in no shape to explain, I said, "Fred and George decided to nick our Prefect badges, so we chased them to get it back. Then we discovered that they had bewitched them to say 'Pinhead', so we had to chase them around the train all over again!"

"I should have cursed them – their bag – something!" cried Ron.

"That's not all," I said. "Guess who's the Slytherin Prefect?"

"Malfoy," said Harry with absolute certainty.

"And Pansy Parkinson," I added. "The girl who looks like a pug."

Harry groaned. "Great. Just wonderful. What's next, Voldemort as our DADA teacher?" Ron and I flinched at the name, causing him to sigh. "It's just a name, guys!"

Ron shook his head in frustration before he frowned and looked at me. "Parkinson's a _prefect_?" he asked.

I gaped at him. "You didn't see her strutting on the train with the silver badge pinned on her chest?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I was catching up on the gossip! Did you hear about that too?"

"What gossip?" asked Ginny. I almost jumped in surprise. She wasn't with Dean?

Ron didn't even bat an eyelash. Then again, he has the emotional range of a teaspoon. "Apparently, there are some American students coming to Hogwarts. The weird thing is, nobody can confirm if they're wizards. That's what the gossipers say anyway. But that wouldn't make sense – why would Muggles come to Hogwarts?" He snatched up a Pumpkin Pastry and promptly devoured it.

I shook my head at the typical Ron behaviour. "Did the gossipers say their gender? Because if they're all female, they could be from the Salem Witches' Institute in America."

Ron shrugged. "Both genders, I think." He continued stuffing his face with Cauldron Cakes.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Ron, the food isn't going to disappear any time soon. Slow down." Ron just continued eating.

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "So… American students? Did you guys get any names, or was that the only information the gossip network would give out?"

Ron grabbed some Liquorice Wands. "Oo, tink ere os rank n ati," he said. I stared blankly at him.

Harry, though, apparently had more experience with translating 'Ronald English'. "He thinks there was a 'Frank' and a 'Katie'," he translated. The names meant nothing to me.

Ginny shrugged. "Cool. Did they say how many people there were?" she asked.

Ron shrugged. "About fourteen? Seventeen?" He shrugged again and continued to devour Chocolate Frogs. I picked up an abandoned card lying on the table.

"'Pasiphaë,'" I read. "'Sister of Circe and wife of Minos. Mother of the Minotaur. Famous for helping to create the Labyrinth. Was believed by some Greek witches to be a sorceress rather than a witch. Greek Muggles believed she was a daughter of Helios, their sun god.'" I tossed the card away. Ron, though, caught it.

"How can you _possibly_ throw a Pasiphaë card away, Hermione!" he exclaimed. "They're ultra-rare! Only a hundred were ever made! This is priceless! Even I don't have one of Pasiphaë!"

I just sighed in exasperation. Ron and his card collection. I picked up another card out of boredom.

"'Medea,'" I said aloud. "'Princess of Colchis. Famous for falling in love with Jason of the Argonauts, a crew that sought to recover the Golden Fleece, which had healing properties beyond any potion. Niece of Circe.'" I frowned. "What's with all the Greek cards today?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. Want a purple Bertie Bott's?"

I declined his offer and the rest of the trip went smoothly by. We played a few games of Exploding Snap. Once, I saw a girl arguing with Malfoy. At least, that was what it looked like to me.

In a surprisingly short time, we were in the Great Hall, watching the first years get sorted. This year, the Hat gave us an even odder song than usual – a warning song about staying together and uniting from within. I guess it was because of You-Know-Who returning. During the Sorting, I also noticed a strange-looking woman dressed in pink. She vaguely resembled a toad, except a million times uglier. She definitely wasn't Trelawney, so it must have been our newest DADA teacher. I wondered if she would last the year. Considering our record of DADA teachers, probably not.

After the Sorting, Dumbledore stood up. But instead of his usual quick words, he gave a speech. I was pretty sure Ron groaned.

"Good evening, students and professors," he began. "I know you all wish to be digging in to our splendid feast, but this year I feel it wise to confirm the rumours that there are visitors to Hogwarts."

A collective gasp went through the hall. "I knew it!" yelled Fred Weasley.

"Now, as you have heard, Lord Voldemort rose some time ago –" I flinched at the name, like just about every other person in the Great Hall. The pink woman muttered something too low to hear. "– and these people are allies that will help us. They are not wizards." He paused for a second to let that sink in.

"Are they Muggles?" asked a Slytherin.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "No, they are not Muggles either. They are much more dangerous."

"If they are not wizards, but they aren't Muggles either, then what are they, sir?" asked Susan Bones.

Dumbledore smiled. "I was hoping someone might ask me that. Now has anyone heard of the Greek Myths?"

Everyone in fifth year automatically turned to me. I blushed. "Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings concerning Ancient Greece, sir. It tells of fantastical gods and heroes who did great things. It explained the nature of the world to the Ancient Greeks. But it's not real, sir. It's just what the Muggles in Greece made up to explain natural phenomena, like lightning."

"On the contrary, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore. "Wizards are myths to Muggles, and yet we exist. The Greek gods are quite real, ant they have been following the Flame of the West – wherever their influence is strongest. Why, the wizarding race was started by the Goddess of Magic, Hecate. And I am very pleased to say that our visitors this year are the children of the gods, or demigods as they prefer to be known as."

There was an utter silence in the Hall as everybody listened intently. "Now, I must warn you not to anger these demigods. They have just gone through two wars, less than a year apart. Some of them are quick to anger and will not calm down until what they see as a wrong is righted. I will advise you not to pick a fight against any demigod; their reflexes are faster than a wizard and, due to the god blood in their bloodstream, they are unaffected by almost all spells, with possibly the exception of the Unforgivables. Any fight with a demigod will result in a detention. Also, their weapons will affect us, so be careful to not anger a demigod. They should be arriving now, even as we speak."

Even as he said these words, the doors to the Great Hall opened a crack. A flying contraption edged through the crack. I realised it was an orb with rotating helicopter blades, and there was a scroll attached to it. But that couldn't be right – Muggle technology didn't work in Hogwarts, there was too much magic in the air. And I couldn't even see wires or electricity or anything of that sort, so what was it?

When it reached the head table, the scroll unfurled itself, revealing a video screen. I noticed several Slytherins frown in confusion. The screen crackled to life. It shouldn't have been possible, but it was happening.

Abruptly, the static cleared, and the image of a curly-haired teenager who looked like an elf from the fairy tales appeared. There was a slightly demented smile on his face, and a sparkle in his brown eyes. Overall, he gave off the vibes of "Troublemaker!"

"Hello, witches and wizards!" the boy announced. "My name is Leo Valdez, Supreme Commander of the Argo, awesome member of the seven, saviour of the world, hero of Olympus, blah blah blah. Anyway, we're currently flying over your forest because the perimeters are important and we really can't have Superman falling from the sky in exhaustion. So we'll be crossing the lake soon – Chiron said something about the doors facing the lake. Ugh, I hate doors. Never mind, got sidetracked. So, yeah, we'll be at the gates – Festus, port. Don't torch the tree. Yeah, so we'll be there soon – actually, never mind, we're already starting the glide. Everybody, get out of your cabins or I'm setting you on fire!" He turned back to us with a scary glint in his eyes. "It would be appreciated if you opened the doors or the gates or whatever your castles have. We really don't want to send the place up in flames to find the wooden doors or whatever. So, that's about it. Festus, please don't torch the lake. We need it to land. And I doubt Aqua Man would be too pleased. What? Mermaids? Who gives a crap." He grabbed a megaphone and started yelling orders in a strange language before turning back. "That's about it. Peace out! Oh, and try not to touch the scroll. I made it so it will self-destruct as soon as the message is finished. Cheers! Leo, out."

The screen abruptly went black. Then it glowed a fiery red before promptly turning to ash. I didn't see any flames, but the flakes of ash drifted to the floor. It almost made me sad how such a great piece of technology had been destroyed. Then again, there were probably more artifacts like the orb on board the ship they were coming in. (Why else would they need the lake? But then again, how were they over the forest? A flying ship?)

"But Hermione said Muggle stuff doesn't work in Hogwarts," Ron said in the silence. I glared at him.

"I don't think that's Muggle," a muggleborn from Ravenclaw said. "Muggles can't do that. Video scrolls, I mean." He was met with blank stares from the rest of his House.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, catching our attention. "Well then. Prefects, please lead your Houses out to greet the demigods. Stay in your House groups."

I stood up and started calling for first years, leading them out, while pondering what exactly had just happened in the Hall.

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**Next chapter - the sho****w! As always, read and review! **

**Wow, that nearly rhymed. *disturbed look on face* And the beat was pretty much the same. *very disturbed look on face***

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	5. Harry V

**Thank you everyone for the reviews! Twenty-two reviews! Waffles for everyone! # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**Callmeziegee: no, not all the demigods will be sorted into Gryffindor. You'll see in this chapter .o**

**Everyone, thank you for enjoying Leo's speech! Originally I had planned to add something flirty in there, since Leo didn't have any kind of romance, but then HoH and Caleo happened. GO CALEO! *faints in happiness***

**A side note: if you go to this story from my profile but haven't read HoH yet, I suggest you use the 'hide bio' tab. I really need somewhere to write down my favorite parts of HoH, and since my profile is empty, I think that's where it should all go. **

**Don't say I didn't warn you (A doughnut for the person who tells me where this gem was from!)**

**Hope you enjoy the show!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own HoO, PJO or HP. **

**(Hey, am I the only person to notice that the last book, Blood of Olympus, is BOO and Heroes of Olympus is HOO and if you combine them you get BOO HOO? Is that some kind of foreshadowing?)**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Harry**

I lost sight of Ron and Hermione after they had to attend to Prefect duties. So I ended up next to Dean and Seamus as we filed out. Seamus kept throwing me uncertain glances every so often, although I had no idea why. Did I do something wrong?

We found a prime spot near the front, perfect for watching. After a while, Ron and Hermione squished in next to us, their Prefect duties finished.

I was still mulling over Dumbledore's words. These people were immune to magic, had just come through two wars of their own, were highly sensitive and had short tempers? Fights with a demigod would result in detentions? The blame would automatically be yours? It sounded as if Hogwarts were trying a little desperately to please the demigods. On the other hand, the demigods also sounded really cool. I doubted even Voldemort could take on a fight with one of them, and, according to the Hogwarts' gossip network, there were fourteen to seventeen coming.

A first year suddenly screamed. "The lake!" she shouted. I was eerily reminded of last year, with the Durmstrang students. Except last year, it had been Lee Jordan who'd said those words.

Like everybody else, I gasped a second later. I couldn't help myself – an enormous column of fire had shot from the centre of the lake. Was it possible for magical fire to burn in water? The fire lit up the surface of the lake, which I now realised was unnaturally smooth.

An enormous whirlpool suddenly formed in the centre of the lake. It stretched all the way to the very edges of the lake – I could actually see the waters receding from the shore. It made for an incredibly spooky sight, not least because the remnants of the plume of fire were still illuminating the waters.

An enormous ship exploded out of the water as if someone on the Astronomy tower had summoned it. Droplets of water slid off the sides so smoothly I wondered if they had a demigod equivalent of the Impervius Charm. Then another column of fire erupted from the front – the prow – of the ship. I belatedly realised that it was flying after it rose into the air. I took a quick glance around. Every single person was either staring or gaping - just like me, really.

Accompanying the ship was a mass of water plants that seemed to be unfurling around the ship. It was an incredible display – fire, water and earth combined. It looked as if a giant flower was unfurling, and the ship was the inside of the flower. Then a bolt of lightning lanced through the sky, flashing so brilliantly I briefly closed my eyes. Now there was fire, water, earth _and_ air. I vaguely recalled accidentally reading one of Hermione's Ancient Runes study notes in third year, where there had been a comment in the margin saying the four basic elements were very difficult to control in their raw forms. Something like that, anyway.

The ship began gliding towards us in a slow, stately fashion, accompanied by a train of water plants, columns of fire, and the occasional spout of water. As it did so, a bright white light seemed to emanate from it, highlighting the ship in the darkness. Haunting mermaid music seemed to be resonating from the lake as well. I shivered. The ship bumped gently into the shore, but I couldn't make out anybody disembarking from it.

There was another flash of lightning, before rain suddenly started pounding down. It was so sudden, I was drenched before I had even realised it was raining. The flying ship seemed even more mysterious, the light coming from it illuminating the slanted raindrops.

As suddenly as the rain began, it stopped, leaving us all soaked. Strangely, the rain wasn't very cold. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the shadows move and I turned towards it.

The next second, the shadows surged forwards, forming monstrous shapes. Students screamed. Then the shadows slid backwards, revealing seventeen people standing in front of the mass of students. More students screamed or gasped. A second year fainted. I took the opportunity to quickly study them.

They all looked to be about the same age as me, maybe a few years older. There was a kid who looked fifteen and another who looked eighteen. Either way, they seemed to have something in common. It took me a few seconds before I realised what it was. They all had a similar stance, and despite the way they seemed relaxed on the outside, they were all tense, as if waiting to be attacked.

Dumbledore stepped towards the demigods. "Welcome, demigods. If you would like to enter the castle?"

A girl of about sixteen or so stepped forwards. She had dark black hair and multicoloured eyes that seemed to shift colour in the light. (**A/N Lou's appearance was never mentioned, and Hecate's appearance varied in Son of Magic and HoH, so I'm making it up**) "It would be our pleasure, Professor Dumbledore," she said.

After we re-entered the castle, all somehow dry again, we went back to our seats. I glanced at our visitors again, picking out some things I hadn't noticed in the dark. The males were all toned and muscular, although some of them were more wiry than toned. They all seemed to have an inner confidence around them. The females were mostly slim and tanned, and they seemed to radiate the same confidence. It was especially apparent in four girls. I also had the odd sense they were all dating someone already.

Professor McGonagall took out the Sorting Hat again, placing it on the stool. She turned to the demigods.

"Demigods, welcome to Hogwarts," she began. "While you are visitors and thus do not need a House, it is felt that this would aid you on your visit here. There are four Houses at Hogwarts, and each has its own values and beliefs. Triumphs earn House points, while misbehaviour loses House points. However while you will be sorted into Houses you will still be staying in the same common room and its dormitories, and sitting at the same table. Your parents have deigned to send us your names, as well as a saying that I believe is somehow related. You will be Sorted in the order of your cabins. Understood?"

The demigods nodded as one and formed a straight line, as if they'd been doing it all their lives. For all I knew, maybe they trained for this at their place. McGonagall cleared her throat.

"For Cabin One, Zeus – Grace, Jason. The saying for you is, 'Respect this kid or eat voltage!'." Several demigods snickered as the boy who'd stepped forwards shook his head. He had blonde hair and icy blue eyes. I could see the girls practically drooling. Hermione, to my surprise, was one of them. Well, she simply stared starry-eyed. It was definitely better than the expression on Lavender's face, though – she looked as if she'd just seen the hottest person ever.

Jason sat down on the stool and the Hat was placed on his head. It took an unusually long time, and his face went through a series of expressions from surprise to shock to anger and then to a sudden cold indifference, which was so unexpected I suspected he'd closed off his emotions. There was a sudden fire burning in his eyes.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Jason slipped off the stool and made his way towards a round table set between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. I hadn't even noticed it before. He looked slightly dazed as he sat down. It was as if the Hat had reminded him of something he wanted to forget.

"For Cabin Three, Poseidon – Jackson, Perseus." Wait, what happened to cabin two? The guy who'd made his way to the front looked like a more athletic version of me, with tousled black hair and sea green eyes. The girls were really staring now. "It's just Percy," he told McGonagall.

She didn't seem deterred. "Your saying is, 'Sea disasters are better than air disasters'." Percy's mouth twitched in amusement as a girl in the middle of the line made a noise that sounded like disguised laughter.

Percy took even longer than Jason, which was really saying something. The Hat's voice was actually trembling when it pronounced, "Gryffindor". Percy practically fled for the table.

"For Cabin Four, Demeter – Gardner, Katie. Your saying is, 'Eat More Cereal'." McGonagall frowned at the parchment as a girl with wavy brown hair and bright green eyes took her spot on the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hat roared. The Hufflepuff table cheered.

"Cabin Five, Ares – La Rue, Clarisse. 'This. Means. War.'." She frowned at the parchment again, as if wondering why the phrase was so violent. Clarisse turned out to be a buff girl with stringy brown hair and eyes. She seemed to be the only girl who didn't have perfect hair, although I doubted any females in the demigod group spent time on their hair.

"SLYTHERIN!" shouted the Hat. The green and silver table sounded rather uncertain as they clapped.

"Zhang, Frank!" His parent wasn't named, and it took me a while to realise he was also a son of Ares. He looked incredibly different from Clarisse, and it was highlighted a second later when the Hat roared, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"For Cabin Six, Athena – Chase, Annabeth. Your quote is, 'The pen is mightier than the sword'." Now _she_ was really pretty. She had golden hair that bounced down to her shoulders, and intense grey eyes like a storm front. I stared at her, like pretty much every other boy in Hogwarts. The girls glared daggers at her. The Hat thought for a pretty long time.

"GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted. Annabeth made her way to the demigods' table, shattering our dreams a second later by snogging Percy. Now the girls really glared – probably for stealing their dream guy or something. Even Hermione glared, while farther down the table Parvati and Lavender looked so angry I wondered if they were planning to poison Annabeth.

"State, Malcolm." He looked like his sister, but he didn't go to Gryffindor like Annabeth. Instead, he became a Ravenclaw. Now every house had a demigod.

"Cabin Seven, Apollo – Solace, Will." If Will wasn't the girls' dream guy, I was a Death Eater. He had sunshine-blonde hair, sky blue eyes and a light tan. The girls weren't practically drooling any more – they actually were drooling. I spotted a girl from the Slytherin table stare dreamily at him. Even some of the boys seemed to be studying him.

"Your saying is, 'Artemis is YOUNGER. No matter what she says'." Will looked rather amused by that.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cabin Eight, Artemis – Grace, Thalia! 'Ignore Apollo. We're TWINS.'" The girl that stepped upwards had spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. Overall, she radiated a 'don't mess with me' vibe. I was proven right when she hissed, "It's just Thalia," before sitting on the stool. Her eyes darkened almost immediately.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat shouted. Wow, a lot of the demigods are in Gryffindor.

"Cabin Nine, Hephaestus – Valdez, Leo! 'Can we fix it? Yes we can!'" The same boy who's face appeared on the video scroll sauntered up to the stool. It took a while, but the Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Cabin Ten, Aphrodite – McLean, Piper!" Piper's brown hair was braided with an eagle feather, and her eyes were multicoloured like Lou's. She seemed to radiate a kind of inner beauty, like a Veela. Only her beauty seemed to have been deliberately dimmed, although I guessed that if she chose to release it, it would be a lot more potent than a Veela's.

"Erm, 'I'm not a Barbie girl, in a not-Barbie world'." McGonagall seemed rather uncomfortable saying that. Then again, Barbie wasn't exactly made for Hogwarts professors.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat screamed. As soon as Piper sat down, she and Jason crashed their lips onto each other's. If looks could kill, Piper would have been incinerated on the spot. As it was, she and Jason ignored all of them.

"Cabin Eleven, Hermes – Rodriguez, Chris! 'Your stuff is my stuff, my stuff is not yours'." It took less than a second for Chris to be declared "HUFFLEPUFF!" He turned out to be dating Clarisse. The Slytherin table relaxed visibly.

"Stoll, Connor!" The boy that came up had a mischievous expression on his face. He plonked himself down on the stool and waited. And waited.

"RAVENCLAW!" The Hat shouted. The boy darted off, before suddenly stopping and handing an object from his pocket to McGonagall. Her wand.

McGonagall's mouth fell open in an 'O' as Connor laughed and sped off to the demigods' table. McGonagall scowled before turning back to the remaining demigods.

"Stoll, Travis!" The boy that came up looked identical to Connor. I wondered if they were twins like Fred and George.

"RAVENCLAW!" Travis shot off, planting a kiss on Katie's cheek as he sat down next to her. So they were dating as well.

"Cabin Thirteen, Hades." What happened to Twelve? "Di Angelo, Nico. 'Forget Alcyoneus, paperwork is the bane of my existence'." The son of Hades had startlingly pale skin after the tanned skin of the others. His eyes were dark, as if they'd seen loads – far more than he should have, enough to break the sanity limit. I was reminded of the hollow eyes of my godfather, Sirius. To Ron's surprise, he became a Gryffindor – Ron had been adamant Nico would get Sorted into Slytherin.

"Levesque, Hazel." The daughter of Hades couldn't have been less similar to Nico. She had brown hair, and an African-American complexion. Her eyes were an odd colour, though – golden. She became a Gryffindor as well, and was revealed to be dating Frank.

And suddenly there was only one demigod left – the same one who'd talked to Dumbledore.

"Cabin Twenty, Hecate." Whoa. How did they get from thirteen to twenty? Hermione had a look of bafflement on her face, while Ron clearly couldn't care less; he was throwing longing looks at his plate.

"Lou Ellen. 'There are always at least three ways to go at a crossroads'." I had no idea what that was meant to mean, but the demigods all nodded. She became a Ravenclaw almost immediately, and was found to be dating Connor.

To Ron's visible relief (and to mine and Hermione's amusement), Dumbledore only made a swift welcoming speech, before the food arrived on the table and the Feast properly started.

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**I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I'll leave it to you to wonder how the Argo managed to get underneath the lake without the crew dying (Hint: Cabin Three). I hope you think the demigods were sorted into the correct houses. As always, please review! **

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	6. Draco VI

**Twenty three reviews! Wow, you guys are seriously awesome. Waffles for everyone! # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**

**A congrats to Riptide18 who got my question right. Doughnut! (:O:)**

**Now as an answer to the questions: this one popped up the most - Clarisse being in Slytherin. So here is my answer to everybody who asked that.**

**While in the series, Clarisse has never truly shown either ambition or cunning, I believe she must have at least a dose of each. Remember, in The Lost Hero Annabeth said there were landmines in front of the Ares Cabin. Clarisse must have at least an amount of what Slytherin House is if she became leader for such a violent cabin. Also, for those of you who say she made it to the top because of her strength - I doubt that. Remember, she was thirteen at most in the Lightning Thief, yet she was already the cabin counsellor. That shows she must have used more than her strength, because I highly doubt there was nobody in the Ares cabin older than thirteen when Percy arrived. And in The Stolen Chariot - well, she herself said she was the first girl to get a try in a long time. That speaks for itself.**

**Slytherins also take pride in their heritage, and Clarisse has certainly shown that throughout the PJO series (TLT, TLO are prime examples). Slytherins have pride, which Clarisse has as well (again, TLO) and they are not overly emotional, which is also Clarisse. Slytherins can be snappy, and are good at giving cold looks. Both of these are also Clarisse. She is brave and loyal to her friends, but overall I think she suits Slytherin more than Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Remember, Slytherins can be loyal to their causes as well, and Clarisse certainly was loyal to both Silena and the Olympians, which can be seen as a cause. So those are my reasons for sorting Clarisse into Slytherin.**

**Onto other questions:**

**Anime Princess: as a matter of fact, the water plants weren't just Percy; it was Katie as well. I've always found it interesting that Katie isn't mentioned much in the series at all, despite her mother being one of the elder Olympians. So this fanfic will also be a bit more focused on the minor characters. Considering that the Seven still have PTSD from the Giant War, I think it's reasonable to say that the minor characters will get more say than in the books.**

**MiSaNaHyu: the sayings are for a cabin as a total, not a demigod. So Travis and Connor's saying are the same as Chris', while the same goes for Hazel and Malcolm.**

**Deadly Animals are Cute: **Warning: Spoiler Alert for people who haven't read HoH. Please keep scrolling down.** Annabeth is clever and so is Leo, but they are both also incredibly**** brave. As for instance when Annabeth offered to distract the drakon in HoH to get Percy to safety - that's loyalty, and it's also bravery. And the scene on the Williamsburg Bridge in TLO - another scene of bravery and loyalty, she fought by Percy while surrounded. And the scenes in TLO where she fought in spite of her bad shoulder - bravery. And Leo - he's clever, yes, but he's brave as well. He accepted the Quest to Save Hera even though he had no idea what it was about, and he faced down plenty of baddies and managed to make a joke despite the situation. In my opinion, that's either stupidity or bravery, and I'm going with the latter. **

**llamacheese: I update once a week, or thrice every fortnight when I'm on holidays. I update at the weekends, usually by 1pm on Saturday, Australian EST. Depending on your own location, that might be Friday morning, Friday afternoon or even Saturday morning.**

**Disclaimer: I am not RR or JKR. I'm 100% sure neither of them live in Australia or care about Australian EST.**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Draco**

To say I was surprised by the demigods was an understatement.

It was more like I was so stunned all I could do was stare. Why hadn't anyone told me they were coming? I would have thought Chiron at least would have sent a warning, but clearly not. I glanced at the other two demigods I knew were in Hogwarts. They were both frozen as well, but if frozen was the description, then Luna was definitely defrosting.

I mentally visualised what would happen if I went over. My sister would give me a bone-crushing hug. There would be greetings all around. Then the Stolls would find out about SPQR, and probably give me endless teasing. Gods help me if the Prefect thing ever came out. That settled it. There was no way I was going over first. Maybe last…?

Fortunately, Luna solved my internal dilemma by (rather bravely, in my opinion) walking up to them, and taking a spot next to Thalia. People started muttering, but Luna didn't care. Gods, wizards could be stupid sometimes. Of course, they hadn't exactly understood the burning food tradition either (Weasel's face, HA).

For a second there was no reaction from Thalia. Then…

"Holy Artemis! Luna! You go to school here? Oh, wow!" she shouted, instantly drawing all the attention to her. Not that the demigod table didn't have it already. It was probably a Zeus thing.

The next second, Luna was being crushed in a hug by Annabeth. "Moon, this is your school? That's awesome! What's it like? Have you been eating properly? What are the classes like? The teachers? The subjects? Why are you so pale?" I grimaced. Annabeth had managed to say everything in a single breath. I knew that if I tried to say that, I would probably suffocate halfway. The ability of girls to speak really fast is something I will never understand.

Luna grinned (I won't ever understand how girls can withstand these hugs either) and slipped a carving of an eagle owl over her head. I had a similar carving, although the type of animal was different. The minute it left her hands, there was a bright flash, similar to one of Leo's flash-bang grenades. I temporarily closed my eyes.

When the flash faded, every Ravenclaw gasped. Luna had changed completely. Her white-blonde hair had turned into a rich golden colour, and her eyes were a lot more intense. Overall, she was slimmer, stronger and a lot more intimidating. Her dark grey eyes seemed to burn with ferocity.

"The owl carving is my disguise," she explained. "Lady Aphrodite gave it to me. It suppresses my demigod abilities and allows more of my wizard core to show through. Basically, it stops my ability to reflect spells and weaves a disguise around my body. But since you guys are here, I don't think I need it anymore." She grinned broadly.

From the Ravenclaw table, Michael Corner was the first to regain his voice. "Y-you're one of them!" It came out as a half-gasp, half-statement. He was also deathly pale. I would bet a million drachmas he was regretting calling her Loopy Luna. Especially now, since he knew she was a lot more powerful than he'd ever be. I smirked.

"Yes, she is," Will said proudly. "The most beautiful child of Athena ever born." He pulled Luna into a kiss. I knew they were dating and all, but watching your sister make out with another guy? Seriously disturbing. Even more so when every girl in the vicinity started glaring daggers at Luna.

Finally, poor Malcolm cleared his throat. I guess watching your sister make out with another guy will make anybody uncomfortable. "Do you guys mind?" he demanded, blushing. "It's bad enough you're dating, but making out in front of me… have you heard of the word _decency_?" I agreed wholeheartedly with his statement.

Luna blushed, but then Annabeth came to the rescue. "Mal, you need a love life. Until then, you'll never find out how great it is."

"Yes!" agreed Piper. Cabin Ten must be rubbing off on her. "Who should Malcolm be with? Kayla? Nah, she'd shoot him." Will seemed ready to agree with that statement as Malcolm groaned, preparing himself for utter humiliation. "Nyssa? Forget that, you won't mix. Who else is single? Drew? Hades, no. Hmm… this might actually take a while… maybe…?" She trailed off uncertainly, thinking hard. Poor Malcolm looked like a fire crab.

Leo, apparently, decided to take mercy on Malcolm. "Pipes, maybe Malcolm is destined for bachelorship." Or maybe he didn't decide to have mercy. "You can mess with someone else's love life, though."

That was it. Aphrodite Cabin had messed Piper up. Either that or her PTSD from the Giant War had been so severe she had resorted to thinking about love lives in order to keep herself sane. I seriously hoped there was an Option C. Maybe Aphrodite was influencing her…? Probably not.

Either way, Piper was still deep in thought. Interestingly enough, she finally spoke up when half the demigods were losing attention and were drinking pumpkin juice.

"MIRANDA!" she yelled, the sound almost breaking my eardrums. Several demigods choked and spat out pumpkin juice. The goblet in Katie's hand smashed into the floor, spilling pumpkin juice everywhere. Percy quickly flung the beverage out through the doors.

"Piper, are you feeling alright?" asked Jason, looking worried.

"I'm fine," Piper replied. "It's just that after the Giant War, I've been paying more attention to love and pairings. It helps me concentrate and stops me from thinking about the war too much." She gave Jason a smile. "Don't tell me you don't do the same."

Jason blinked. "Well, yeah… I find that I'm a lot more interested in weather reports and training." He gave a dry smile. "As long as you don't turn into Drew – gods forbid – then I'm happy for you."

Piper smiled at him before turning back to Malcolm. "What do you think?"

Malcolm turned red again. "Uh…great?" he ventured cautiously.

"No, I'm serious," said Piper. "Miranda really likes you." She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. "You know she had pictures of you doing camp activities hidden under her bed, right? With love hearts doodled on them?"

"Why were you under Miranda's bed?" asked Katie in the ensuing silence, but she was swiftly drowned out by a dozen voices.

"Oh my gods Malcolm! Oh. My. Gods!"

"Sorry, mate, but… this is just too good!"

"Mal, brother dearest, never knew you had it in you!"

"This is the best blackmail ever, brain boy!"

Malcolm gave the impression that he would like nothing better than for the earth to swallow him. "_Piper_…" He settled for something that wasn't too antagonising. "Like Katie said, why were you searching under Miranda's bed?"

Piper shrugged. "Cabin inspection."

The demigods who heard groaned. The ones who were too busy laughing didn't. I snickered slightly at the expression on Malcolm's face.

In the chaos and laughter, almost nobody noticed Neville. One group was too busy ROFLing. The other group was too busy gaping. Even the teachers were frozen – they had probably never seen so much chaos or 'boisterous' teenagers yelling at once, not even from the Weasleys. The only reason I noticed Neville was because he was moving. The demigod table didn't notice a thing until he was right behind Katie.

"_Ave, _praetor," he said, saluting.

Instantly, the Seven crashed back to Earth. "_Ave_, Centurion Longbottom," they chorused. Oh, yeah. After the war, the Greeks and Romans had decided to stay separate. However, honorary positions had been created so the Greek demigods could join the legion and vice versa. Percy became honorary praetor, keeping his one-day position. Jason, who had chosen to stay at Camp Half-Blood as well, was another honorary praetor. The advantage of honorary positions was that there wasn't a limit to them. Frank stayed as praetor with Reyna, while Hazel took his place as Centurion of the Fifth. Annabeth, Leo and Piper all became honorary centurions of the Sixth and Seventh Cohorts, which were created after the Giant War for any Greek demigods who wanted to try out the legion. They could become an honorary legionnaire for a year, then decide to become a full one afterwards. Even if they were a full legionnaire, they could still leave and go out into the world, and it didn't matter if they were year-round or summer campers. The only requirement was for them to finish their full ten years in the legion before they reached twenty-three if they were year-rounders, or, if they chose to be a summer camper like me, ten summer terms. The last time I heard, the Eighth Cohort was being created. Both camps really were exploding with numbers after the war.

Neville slipped off a delicate engraving of a cornucopia a second later, changing back into his original form. There wasn't much of a difference, really, except he was fitter and stronger-looking. And his hair was a lot wilder, and darker too.

Katie promptly crushed him in a hug. I winced – Katie could actually bruise people with the strength of her hugs. As Travis found out the hard way when he returned from a minor solo quest to find an arrow of Eros the love god had lost.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Still single, huh Flower Boy? You really need to get moving."

"Shut up," came Neville's playful reply. I saw the Golden Trio stare incredulously at him.

While everyone was busy trying to process the fact that Neville was a demigod, I went over to the group. It helped that the demigod table was placed between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and was fairly close to the Slytherin table. "Hey, Annie," I said.

Annabeth instantly spun around. "Don't call me th – DRACO!"

I winced at the noise. She grabbed me into a hug a second later – and didn't seem ready to let go any time yet.

Finally I mumbled, "Can't breathe." She let go after that, but pulled me down so that I was sitting between her and Malcolm. I took off the barn owl carving, changing back to my natural form. It felt good to be myself again even though I was still suffering from the after-effects of Annabeth's hug. Malcolm grinned at me.

"How's it going, drakon?" I glared at him. He knew I hated that name. Then again, why would anybody want to have the same nickname as an enormous feared monster?

"Zip it," I grumbled, before remembering something I wanted to ask. "What's with the 'you and Miranda' pairing?"

Malcolm turned bright red as Piper turned to face us. "You mean Malanda? It's a couple name – one our cabin gives to couples who are either meant to be together or are already together. For instance, Percabeth is Percy and Annabeth. Jasper – that's me and Jason. Katie and Travis are Tratie. And so on. A couple name is usually just a fusing of two names."

"When the Aphrodite cabin talks about sensible or existing pairings, you should listen," Annabeth advised, turning around. "Most of them might be shallow, but they predicted the Great Collapse three years earlier than the event – and managed to even get the date right."

Mine and Malcolm's eyes widened. _Every_ demigod had heard of the Great Collapse – an almost catastrophic romance event where just about every couple at camp separated. It had happened a little over fifteen years ago, but it was still a legend among campers and was written down in the Camp Histories, alongside the two wars. It was mostly there because a record fifty-three couples separated over the course of a week. It had started with the failure of the romance of the campers Scott, son of Hermes, and Evangeline, daughter of Apollo. The break-ups then escalated until just about every camper was single.

"Wow," I said. "Piper, I'm listening."

"Yes, well, the Aphrodite cabin keeps a book that lists every couple that is and possibly could be. But because all the names are too difficult to right, we just slip in a couple name. All the one you see now –" she gestured with her hands " – they're all written inside the Great Book of Relationships."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "_Every _relationship?" he asked.

"It only contains campers that are already at Camp," Piper amended. "And the ones that have died. I mean, we can't predict that, say, Kayla will end up with a son of, say, Demeter, in a month's time. Because we don't know the names, so we can't have a couple pairing and then we can't have it in the Book."

I didn't really get all that, even though I was a son of Athena, so I just nodded.

"The only thing is," Piper continued, lowering her voice, "is that some of the couples past counsellors and members have put up are seriously controversial. Even after it's shown to be impossible, some people still write it. The name that really attacks me though, has to be _Thalico_."

"Thalico," Malcolm repeated slowly. "As is, Thalia and Nico?"

"Precisely." Piper grimaced. "Thalia's a _Hunter_! She'd never quit the hunt, and especially not for a boy. And yet Drew still thinks it might occur someday." She shook her head. "Drew actually thinks it's _cute_. It makes me want to throw up all over her."

Thalia, either fortunately or unfortunately, turned around at that precise moment. "Did someone just say I'd get together with Nico?" she asked, her voice deadly calm.

"Drew," Piper answered without hesitation. "She supports it."

"She's dead," muttered Thalia. "So, so dead." Thalia turned away to talk with Hazel, and they started a playful debate about the pros and cons of the Big Three.

I quickly glanced around – Katie and Neville were distracted, Connor was stealing Clarisse's drachmas while Travis was cutting up a piece of treacle tart, Clarisse, Chris and Frank was engaged in a talk about weaponry, and Jason, Percy, Leo, Luna, Neville and Lou were all distracted. Maybe the Stolls wouldn't find out about this…

I tapped Annabeth on the arm and silently rolled up my sleeve. She stared at it in shock for a few seconds. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Golden Trio look just a bit more closely. I mentally sighed.

"D-Draco," stammered Annabeth. "You – you became a full member?" Her voice sounded weak with shock.

I nodded. "Yup. I'm now a full member of the Sixth Cohort." I had just finished my first term as a full member. Nine more to go.

Frank glanced upwards. "Modest as ever, Draco. You forgot to mention you're also the full centurion of the Sixth."

I groaned as Annabeth's mouth dropped. "Oh, Draco. Wow! That's amazing." She seemed to be at a loss for words.

Percy raised an eyebrow – I had no idea when he had started to pay attention – and said, "What did Octavian look like?"

"He was livid," answered Frank, "but the legion had spoken."

Leo, who had – somehow – heard the conversation despite his distraction, grinned. "We need to celebrate this, my fellow centurion! Connor! Travis!"

Within seconds, they had understood the situation perfectly. "Party tonight!" called Travis, instantly getting the attention of the demigods – and also of the entire Great Hall. The teachers all looked frozen to their seats, looks of shock and surprise on their faces. I guessed they were regretting calling for backup now.

"Tonight," Connor said, in a solemn voice that made me want to punch him, "we will be celebrating the promotion of Draco Malfoy, son of Athena, to full centurion for the Sixth Cohort of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Please bring a gift, a bag of drachmas and a water balloon, preferably filled with disgusting things but preferably not stuffed full of spiders."

"Why?" demanded Clarisse.

Travis took over. "The gift, obviously, is for Draco. The drachmas are for bets. As for the water balloon – well, that's what he gets for being a goody two-shoes."

"Goody two-shoes," repeated Hazel.

Connor took out my Prefect badge. I hadn't even noticed it was gone.

"Hey! Give that back!" I shouted, jumping up from my seat.

"No chance, Drake!" Connor shouted. He leapt off his chair and sprinted off.

I uttered a choice set of words in Ancient Greek and bolted after him, grabbing a steak knife from the Ravenclaw table and a handful of carving knives from the Slytherin table. Demigods could be hurt by steel, after all.

Connor realised what I was doing a second later, and poured on the speed. A second before he would have crashed headlong into the doors to the Great Hall, he shouted, "Maia!" White bird wings sprouted from his shoes. I cursed him in five languages.

Connor had so much momentum he would have crashed, but at the last second, he turned sideways so that his shoulder took the brunt of the impact. He was going so fast that, instead of crashing and being knocked senseless, he simply created a Side-Profile-Of-Connor-Stoll hole in the door. He stumbled when he got out and took a second to brush away the splinters before he kept going. I leapt through the hole after him. Adrenaline was rushing in my veins, and there was exactly one thought in my head.

_You are a dead man, Connor Stoll, son of Hermes._

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**So, I really hoped you enjoyed that chapter! And now you know who three of the demigods are. The fourth one isn't Hermione, or Snape, just for your information. In fact, he/she may well still be unclaimed. Good luck guessing! **

**I'm not sure if Malanda or whatever Malcolm/Miranda is even exists in Tumblr, but I do hope you enjoyed that little section. I had fun writing it. :)**

**Also, in regards to Piper being suddenly Aphrodite-y: in this fanfic, the Giant War changed all members of the Seven. They all still have some PTSD, and most of them have pushed it back by thinking about other subjects they normally wouldn't take part in, or by putting more time into subjects they already are interested in. Such as, Piper is now interested in relationships. She is interested, yes, but she's not _devoted_ to it like some other Aphrodite children. She does it as... well, a kind of hobby to keep her mind off things. The same goes for the others - Jason now listens to weather reports, Percy uses his powers more often to help him concentrate and not have flashbacks, Annabeth puts more energy into designing Olympus, and so on. Just thought I should clear that up.**

**Please review!**

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	7. Ron VII

**Twenty Seven reviews this time! I love you guys. *goes searching for cookies*. Oh no! I ran out! *quickly jots down note to remind self to buy food*  
**

**Anyway... question time!**

**Random Chick's Pen: Miranda Gardiner was head counselor for Demeter during TLH. So she is a daughter of Demeter. Also, Neville is the son of Ceres. Sorry if I didn't clear that up beforehand!**

**Padfoot'sWife61: Draco is in Slytherin because that's part of his disguise. Knowing that everyone would be suspicious of a Malfoy in Ravenclaw, and with the *ahem* _encouragement_ of Hecate, Draco was placed in Slytherin. Also, I'm sorry, but I actually like Thalia being in the Hunt. It suits her. As for Thalico, well, I'm not sure how that would ever work. Remember, when they first met in TTC, Thalia was fifteen going on sixteen and he was just ten.**

**Okay, now for mass questions: Draco's changes will be shown during this chapter, and don't worry, he won't kill Connor (although humiliation is quite possible... *winks*). Also, his appearance changes will be shown... well, somewhat. Considering that this chapter is through the eyes of Food Maniac Ronald Weasley... Also, everyone who asks about Draco being OOC... wait and you shall receive (sometime during the next fourteen chapters) *smirk***

**Disclaimer: I do not own HoO, PJO or HP! They all belong to RR and JKR!**

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**Chapter Seven**

**Ron**

These demigods were seriously strange. First, the golden-eyed girl with brown hair created a fireplace just by waving her hand. Then Leo Valdez, the guy who looked vaguely like a super-young goblin without pointy ears, somehow set his hand on fire. I was pretty sure some people screamed. And he treated it like it was normal! And then they all got up and threw food into the fireplace. Disgraceful!

And as if things weren't weird enough, Loony Lovegood, Neville and Malfoy of all people went over to them, took off some weird amulet thingy, and then turned into totally different looking people. I mean, Luna went from being pale Ravenclaw weirdo to fit, dangerous hot demigod, and Malfoy went from blonde skinny ferret to tanned slim guy with fierce grey eyes in less than a second. Then Luna's revealed to be dating the guy the girls were all drooling on, Solace! Incredible! And then Malfoy shows the Annabeth girl something on her arm, and suddenly Malfoy's being called a goody two-shoes and they declare a party!

Weird. Then, one of the Stolls says something about Prefects and balloons and bolts out of the hall on winged shoes, being chased by Malfoy, who grabs knives on his way out. They were going to kill each other! And to cap it all off, the demigods treat this like an everyday occurrence! This just wasn't normal. Hermione guessed Malfoy hadn't shown Annabeth a Death Eater mark, because otherwise there wouldn't be a party. That was all she figured out before the other Stoll cleared his throat.

"Don't tell anyone," he said to the other demigods in a loud whisper, "but I might have, ah, borrowed Draco's magical wand as well." He slipped a piece of wood out of his pocket – Malfoy's wand. I stared in astonishment, while several demigods just laughed.

The girl who'd spoken to Dumbledore, Lou, reached over and held the wand delicately between two fingers. "Ten inches, hawthorn and unicorn hair," she declared, placing the wand on the table. "Reasonably pliant."

My jaw dropped; I forgot all about the pie in front of me and stared, just like everybody who'd heard her declaration. How could she possibly know all that just by touching it? Was she related to Ollivander?

"Hermione, how in the world did she know that?" Harry whispered.

"I don't know," Hermione whispered back, looking stunned. "It's unprecedented. Maybe it's because of her heritage or something." She sounded a little doubtful, which made me even sure something strange was going on. Hermione never sounded doubtful – ever.

"Why unicorn hair?" This question came from the Slytherin demigod. "Isn't Athena's symbol an owl?"

Luna shrugged. "Don't ask me why that happened. I frankly don't know. Guess Percy's dad was in a pretty good mood."

"By the way, Travis," added the girl with brown hair and green eyes, "what are we betting on tonight?"

"Oh, you know, the usual." It was impossible to miss the smirk on Travis' face. "How many boys are crazy enough to ask Thalia out, who Percy pisses off, how many monsters attack next week, what monster level they're at. I mean, seriously, we have – what, all members of the Seven here, plus two additional children of the Big Three and another half-dozen demigods. I'd say we'll attract quite a few."

Lou speared a potato with a knife. "Of course. Remind me to put some new spells in place, will you?"

After that, the demigod table was mostly quiet, with the occasional scuffle. I tucked in into my fried chicken and chips, not expecting any surprises. I was just heading into my third slice of fish pie when the doors to the Hall were flung open with a bang. Malfoy stormed straight in, ignoring the looks sent his way, and dragged in a tightly bound Connor. As if to insult Connor, the ropes were a bright pink, with an image of a speared pumpkin that vaguely looked like Connor on it.

Connor was trying desperately to wriggle out of the bonds, but they were way too tight. Malfoy dragged him along like a bad Santa gift bag, not seeming to care if Connor bonked his head on anything. Several demigods snickered at the desperate expression on Connor's face.

"Help!" he squeaked out, before a gag wove around him. At first I thought Malfoy was doing wandless magic, before I spotted Connor's wand in his hand.

Lou shook her head. "And that, fellow demigods," she said, "is why you should not mess with someone who can successfully perform _Incarcerous_."

They all nodded, some with dry smiles on their faces as Lou waved her hand and the ropes around Connor vanished. Malfoy seemed to have forgotten about the incident, or at least had put it behind him, because he was already digging in into chicken drumsticks and roasted potatoes. Although, every once in a while he shot a dark look at Connor.

Connor muttered something in a different language before starting to eat as well. Although, not before he tossed a packet of sweets into the fire. Weird – although, in a day of weird things, I don't know why I was so surprised.

The demigods stayed mostly quiet until dessert, then they stopped and stared.

"Haven't you ever had dessert before?" asked a curious second-year from Ravenclaw.

"Not so much, normally," answered Annabeth in a distracted voice. "Hey, Lou, didn't you say you wanted to do something about the wards?"

Lou swallowed a piece of strawberry. "Uh-huh." She took out a silvery device from a bag that was way too small to hold it. I guess she'd used an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. In the middle of the strange device, there was a 'H', lined in emeralds. I was a bit suspicious of the fact that it was in Slytherin colours, but it was probably just a coincidence. After all, the demigods probably didn't even know what Slytherin house colours were before arriving.

"Laptops don't work here," muttered Hermione suspiciously.

Somehow, on the other side of the Hall, Lou managed to hear her. "Oh, I think it will work. It's Hermione Granger, isn't it?" She ignored the flabbergasted looks coming from just about everyone in the Hall. "It was designed by Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths, himself. So it's not mortal, technically it's quite divine… Leo, power convertor?"

Leo took out some really, really strange thing out of his belt. It looked like an orb, but there seemed to be thousands of metal strings attached to it, so it looked vaguely like a horribly deformed spider. For one horrible moment, I thought of Aragog. Then I quickly squashed down the thought.

Lou picked up one of the metal strings and attached it to her 'laptop'. "Power source?"

"On it!" Before anybody could say anything, the dangerous-looking goth girl, Thalia, had spoken up. I noticed the demigods near her shift away rather uncertainly, so I guessed something bad was about to happen.

She raised her hand to the ceiling, palm up, before suddenly bringing her hand slicing sideways and downwards. A brilliant arc of light leaped from the ceiling, and, less than a second later, I heard a hollow, Boom! Bright light filled my vision, and I blinked rapidly to get rid of the spots.

When I blinked all the spots away, I was left wondering if I was dreaming. Thalia was holding a glittering javelin of white light – an actual bolt of lightning. It was spitting sparks and releasing arcs of white in her hand. I stared.

I became a hundred percent certain when it crackled. Crackled. The sound was so sharp I almost jumped. Beside me, Hermione stared.

When I finally got my voice back, the first two words that made it out were, "Bloody hell, Harry."

"Merlin…" he whispered back. "How did she do that?"

We – or rather, the entire school, including teachers, gaped as Thalia carefully lowered the lightning bolt so that one end of it touched the orb thingy. The orb flashed white before sparks of light began racing up the metal threads. The 'H' on the laptop glowed bright blue as the emeralds flashed and sparkled.

Lou moved her hand over some sort of attachable board with the alphabet on it and punched a few buttons. Whatever she just did, a minute later the air above the laptop hummed. An arc of green light leaped from the emeralds surrounding the 'H', and a 3-D image of Hogwarts suddenly appeared in the air. The image was a flickering green, but otherwise it was a perfect image of Hogwarts. I gaped.

One of the girls whistled. "Now that's one Hades of an image," she said.

Lou tapped a few more buttons and adjusted a knob of some kind. The image rotated once before zooming out, so now it didn't just show the castle, it also showed the grounds and the Forbidden Forest. I was pretty sure everyone had forgotten dessert by now, and I was also sure that I wouldn't get a chance to eat later on. So I quickly shovelled some ice cream into my mouth and returned to staring.

Lou drew out a slender piece of wood from her pocket – her wand. She waved it over the image, causing flares of light to surround the image of the castle. Oddly enough, this light wasn't green like the rest of the image. It was a series of colours – blue, pink, red, yellow, even black.

"What's up with the shimmers?" asked the guy with identical eyes to Thalia. I think his name was Mason? No, Jason. His name was Jason.

"They're the wards," answered Lou. "Hang on a minute…"

The entire population of the Great Hall, teachers included, watched in astonished silence as she flicked her wand and tapped another few buttons. The Hogwarts image vanished, replaced by rows upon rows of Greek letters written in lines. I had no idea what they were saying, although some letters did look kind of similar to the English ones.

The pretty Native American girl, Piper or something like that, translated the letters for us. "Anti-Pest, Anti-Fire, Anti-Flood, Anti-Apparition, Muggle-Repelling, Dilapidated Glamour, Minor Monster Repelling, Flesh-Eating-Slug Repelling – wait, what?"

"Flesh-eating Slugs," answered Neville. "The name kind of speaks for itself."

"Yeah, it kind of does," admitted Piper. "But why only minor monster repel?"

Malfoy, Luna and Neville only shrugged in reply.

Lou frowned at the list. "I'm not sure how you three managed to go undiscovered, but I for one think you should be really, really glad you had those amulets. We should probably add some more spells to this… patchwork, I guess. The original ones have been worn down – see that Delta that's almost been blurred out? And some crazy new ones have been added in… they're all competing with each other, so this entire ward system is mostly in shambles." She shook her head. "And it was a damn fine piece of work in the beginning, too."

I sneaked a glance at the staff table. Several teachers looked like they wanted to comment, but were refraining from doing so. Dumbledore himself merely looked vaguely curious.

"So what are you going to do about it, Lou?" asked one of the demigods.

She shrugged. "Strip it down and put it back up, I guess. Evanesco!"

All of the shimmers instantly vanished around Hogwarts. Blaring noises filled the Great Hall. I clamped my hands over my ears, like just about everybody else.

"This must be the castle's warning mechanism for when the wards are breached!" shouted Hermione over the noise.

"I don't care what it is!" a hysterical Lavender cried from a few paces away. "Get it to shut up!"

Over the din and the commotion, I saw Lou place her wand on the table and wave her hand.

The effect was almost instantaneous; the alarms stopped blaring, and a golden shimmer seemed to go up around the walls. The golden light seemed to be coming from the ground, weaving upwards in some delicate pattern. Pretty soon, the walls were covered with the golden sheen.

"That's the original system back up," said Lou. "The one installed by the four Founders. Hang on… let me just see exactly what I've removed from the ward system."

She tapped another few keys, and more rows of Greek symbols popped up. Several demigods looked at them in interest.

"Wait, is that a curse on the DADA position?" asked Neville, pointing to a row starting with a triangle. "And is that a Removal Charm for Monster Suppression? And – no way. What idiot cursed Potions so that every year, there would be at least ten melting cauldrons?" He looked furious. I didn't blame him – Neville had probably contributed to that quota. I glanced up at the staff table and saw Snape staring incredulously.

"Like I said, shambles," said Lou dismissively. "Let's see… we may as well try to destroy monsters as soon as they get in." She waved her hand over the screen again, and shimmering red light appeared around the walls. They were followed by a series of green, purple and black shimmers that all covered the walls before fading. More rows of Greek letters appeared.

"You added a Curse of the Bogies into the ward system?" asked Malfoy.

Lou shrugged. "Hey, if the wards can't destroy the monsters, then it may as well weaken the monsters. Make it easier, you know?"

"But how is a Lumos supposed to help?" asked Luna. "Oh! Never mind. It can blind them, right?"

"Any light is dangerous if its bright enough," answered Lou. "There we go. One fully-complete perfect ward system."

"It wards out fan mail as well," said the guy who looked just like Harry, except with a tan.

"Yeah, well, do you actually want fan mail?" asked a skeptical Thalia. "Besides, you need to work on your Greek. It specifically says, no dangerous fan mail. Like letter bombs, I suppose."

This was met by rolled eyes. Lou closed her laptop and removed the metal threads. Leo took away the sphere, and Thalia hefted the lightning bolt.

I instantly got nervous. Who wouldn't, seeing a sixteen-year-old girl hold a lightning bolt as if she was going to throw it? I could literally feel the static rolling off the lightning. To say the entire room was nervous was the ultimate understatement. Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "Please don't throw it," she mumbled under her breath.

Thalia spun the lightning in her fingers before removing something from her pocket. A hair clip. Like everybody else, I stared in confusion. What was a hair clip meant to do?

She carefully touched the hair clip to the lightning bolt, a look of intense concentration on her face. Slowly, the lightning fizzled and sparked before vanishing into the hair clip, which was now a whitened yellow the colour of the bolt. The lightning had somehow been absorbed into the hair clip. Incredible.

Thalia slipped the lightning clip into her pocket again, before picking up a spoon and taking a scoop out of the caramel-strawberry ice cream. As if it was some kind of cue, the other demigods started eating dessert as well. Most restricted themselves to one or two spoonfuls of ice cream, though. I shrugged and turned back to the table, grabbing a handful of fruit fritters.

I guessed that told the Hall it was alright to eat again. Pretty soon, all the Houses turned back to their tables and started eating dessert. The normal loud buzz of chatter, though, never rose up; it stayed at a low rumbling noise.

It wasn't very long after that before the Feast was over. Dumbledore stood up to make his start-of-year speech.

"A good evening to you all, and for our newest year, welcome to Hogwarts." His eyes twinkled as he continued. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I would like to give a few announcements."

"First of all, there are some changes in the staff. I would like you all to give a warm welcome to Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be filling in for Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures. Also, please welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge. This – "

Dumbledore suddenly stopped. It took me a while to realise that Umbridge had stood up. It really didn't make much of a difference to her height. Harry's eyes, though, widened with recognition.

"She was at my hearing!" he hissed.

"Hem, hem," began Umbridge. "How nice it is, to be back at Hogwarts. And how nice it is to see all your happy faces smiling back at me." I glanced around the hall before staring at Umbridge. Nobody had a happy face on. She kept rambling for a while, and I zoned out.

About halfway or so through her speech, Harry gave me a sharp nudge in the ribs. "Look at the demigods, Ron!" he whispered.

I glanced over and my mouth dropped. The demigods weren't just not paying attention, they were also showing it quite blatantly.

Percy was absently stroking Annabeth's hair, Jason and Piper were snogging, Thalia was talking with Lou while waving her wand, Katie was making plants grow while listening in to the Stolls' conversation, Chris and Clarisse were arm-wrestling, Hazel was talking to Nico and creating diamonds at the same time, Frank, Neville, Leo and Malfoy were having a debate and Luna and Will were chatting. I was kind of disturbed by the Nico guy. He had an uncanny ability to simply vanish into the air. Although, none of the other demigods seemed to mind his vanishing act.

Umbridge suddenly stopped. I glanced up, to see that she was glaring at the demigods with a particularly nasty look on her face. Before she could say anything, though, Thalia spoke up.

"It's over? Oh, thank the gods. That was the most boring thing I'd ever heard in my life, and I've listened to plenty of speeches and screaming on the solstices. And my dad could actually be a candidate to win the Nobel Prize of Boring Speeches. No offence meant dad, but long speeches aren't really cut out for ADHD demigods." Thunder rumbled in the sky, and I had a feeling her father – whoever he was – had heard her.

Umbridge looked furious – probably because her speech had been called boring. "Miss Grace, how would you have said this speech, then?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.

Thalia's eyes flashed. "Call me that again, and I'll show you what the Underworld looks like." The expression of fury on her face said she was serious. "And for the record, I would have said something along the lines of, 'Students of Hogwarts, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the Ministry's going to take over your beloved school! Mwahahaha!'" She finished with a creepy laugh that sent chills down my spine.

Umbridge looked stunned, but Thalia had just gained points in my mind. "How did you –"

"Please. It was obvious." She said it so dismissively even Hermione stared.

"Burned," muttered Chris.

Umbridge scowled and sat down. Apparently, she knew she had lost. Hermione had a thoughtful look on her face, as if her mind was going at a million miles an hour. Knowing her, it probably was.

"Well," Dumbledore finally said in the silence, "thank you, Miss – ah, Thalia, for your interesting insight into Professor Umbridge's speech. In other announcements, I would like to inform first-years – and some other students – that the Forbidden Forest is out-of-bounds, unless you have proven yourself capable of taking on its inhabitants." I blinked. Why… oh. The demigods probably needed it as a training ground. "Also, there will be a new elective this year for fourth years and up – Physical Combat and Defence, which will be taught by the demigods. A word of advice: dropping subjects is not an option, so only take up this subject if you can juggle more than three electives. That will be all. Now, off to your beds! Chop chop!"

Everybody started getting up with a loud scraping of chairs. I groaned when I realised I had to herd the first years to the common room.

"See you later, mate," I said to Harry. This was going to be so much fun.

* * *

**Okay, so I know the demigods may have been a little overboard or something like that in there. Note that, even though the Grand Entrance was over, they're still putting on a show. Flames accepted for s'mores!**

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**


	8. Harry VIII

**So, thank you to everyone who reviewed! Cookies! (I restocked my pantry) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)  
**

**Random Chick's Pen: Why, thank you! Personally, I dislike spoilers too. Unless of course the book's been out for a year and I still haven't found it - that's when I go around desperately searching for any clues about the story. I'll put up the words HOH SPOILERS in chapters that have them until Christmas (assuming everybody who hasn't gotten it will get it as a Christmas present) :)**

**Sly Raccoon: thank you for the compliment! **

**Max0820: Ah, well. Actually, English is easier if you learn it early. It's actually my second language, so I don't think anyone has right to complain. Although, by now it's pretty much my first language. Just listen to the teacher, daydream about books/ships whenever possible and read good grammar-wise books. That's what helped me. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**Harry**

To say I wasn't in a very good mood when I got to the Great Hall for breakfast was an understatement.

I was… well, really, _really_ angry. At Seamus for believing the Prophet, at the Prophet for saying I was a liar, at the Ministry for not believing Voldemort was back, even at Ron and Hermione for not telling me everything. Even though it had been resolved at Grimmauld Place, I was still frustrated. And I was feeling guilty for letting Hagrid down. Ugh.

All those feelings vanished when I reached the Great Hall and saw the congestion at the front of the doors. There seemed to be an enormous mass of students clustered around the doors, staring. I heard the sounds of metal clashing on metal in the hall.

"What's going on?" I asked the nearest person, who turned out to be Ernie Macmillan.

He blinked and glanced at me, before saying, "The demigods. I think they're using the Great Hall as a training base… Oh, Merlin!"

I left Ernie and managed to squeeze between two Ravenclaws who shuffled sideways as soon as I went between them. Maybe this 'lunatic who proclaims You-Know-Who is back' thing has good sides after all.

My jaw literally hit the ground when I saw what was going on. For a second I wondered if I was hallucinating, or if the demigods were purposefully trying to kill each other. Because this couldn't be what they normally did every day.

Percy and Thalia had teamed up against Nico and Jason, and flashes of blue and black were flaring up in their area. Hazel and Piper were sparring as well, bronze knife against gold sword. They were slower than Percy, Thalia, Nico and Jason, but they were still looking like they wanted to kill each other. Frank and Will were having an archery competition – where did the targets even come from? – while Connor, Travis and Malfoy practised sprinting. Chris was wrestling with Clarisse, while Annabeth sparred with Luna. Luna used a bronze knife, but Annabeth's weapon was a sword that seemed to be made of bone out of all things. Neville and Katie were growing plants in one corner of the hall, and the plants looked just like Devil's Snare. Leo and Malcolm were huddled over blueprints, talking and waving their hands wildly – Leo was building something too – while Lou was studying an hourglass that looked suspiciously like a Time-Turner. As I stared, an arrow sailed past the targets, straight at Neville's back. He sidestepped easily and the Devil's Snare wrapped tightly around the arrow, splintering it with a _crunch_!

A few minutes later, Nico's sword clashed against Thalia's spear. The sword slid along the length of the spear, and Thalia twisted her spear. The sword was sent flying, but Nico continued fighting by using the shadows as replacements. Thalia kept pushing him back, and he kept losing ground – until it turned out he was just using it to regain his sword. Nico scooped up his sword from the ground when he was close enough, sliding past Thalia, and the spar continued.

"Bloody hell," whispered Ron, who had somehow managed to find a spot next to me. "Blimey, Harry, they could kill each other! Are they trying to die?"

"All I know is that Voldemort has no chance against them if his wand gets broken," I whispered back.

Piper's knife sailed through the air as Hazel managed to disarm her. It hit the ground and skittered across the floor into the circle where Percy, Thalia, Jason and Nico were sparring. Jason stepped backwards to avoid Percy's sword and almost tripped on Piper's knife. Piper simply drew a sword from its scabbard and continued fighting. Jason kicked the knife out of the arena and brought his sword down on Percy's, forcing Percy to take two steps back.

They continued for a while, and it was only when Lou called, "Time!" that I noticed the tables and benches of the Great Hall had all vanished. The demigods dropped onto the ground, sliding their weapons away. They were breathing heavily, but nowhere near heavily enough for people that had been fighting for an hour. And I only knew that because Lou was holding an hourglass.

A cascade of water dropped from thin air onto the demigods, instantly soaking them. I guessed it was a substitute for a shower. Percy waved his hand and they all dried off, taking out squares of some kind of food or a canteen and taking either bites or sips. After just one nibble, they seemed a lot more rejuvenated.

"Better clean up," muttered Malfoy, standing up and grimacing.

"Oh, that's easy," said Lou. She waved her hand once.

_BANG! _The four house tables reappeared in an instant, sending up clouds of smoke as they dropped onto the stone floor. The staff table reappeared in its original position, while the house points hourglasses appeared on the walls. The Hogwarts banner unrolled behind Dumbledore's chair. I stared… as did everybody else who had witnessed the magic.

* * *

At breakfast, all everyone would talk about was the demigods. I speared a piece of pancake, while Ron, beside me, dug in into a mountain of bacon, rashers, sausages and toast. Hermione wrinkled her nose as she read the _Daily Prophet_.

"Know what the enemy is saying," was all she said to me.

"Did you see Nico and Thalia," said Dean. "I mean, the way she disarmed him was awesome! She made it seem so easy, too. I bet she'll be a spear instructor."

"No way, man," Seamus countered. He seemed to have forgotten about last night. Lucky him. "I saw a silver bow on the ground outside their arena. And I'd bet all my money that's hers. She's an archer for sure."

"Then why wasn't she using the bow?"

Meanwhile, the girls were all drooling over the male demigods. I almost felt sorry for them when I heard Lavender's words. "Did you _see_ how hot Will looked when he was doing archery?"

"Don't be ridiculous," countered Parvati. "Did you even look at Percy? Or Nico? They are, _way_ better looking."

"I know! Why Percy is dating that ridiculous blonde is beyond me," another girl I vaguely recognised as Fay Dunbar said. "Percy's hotter than the entire Ravenclaw team." For her sake, I really hoped Annabeth didn't hear her. I doubted she would want to be termed a 'ridiculous blonde'.

Hermione lowered her newspaper. "That's it," she muttered. "I'm signing up for this Physical Combat and Defence thing."

"Where do you sign up? McGonagall's?" asked Ron.

"Probably," I answered.

One by one, the demigods started getting up. Finally (rather bravely) Terry Boot called out, "Where are you guys going?"

The demigod who was currently getting up, Malcolm, answered, "I'm heading for the library. Although, everyone is splitting up. Because we all have different destinations. Like, Thalia's gone for the Forest, Percy has to have a chat with the merpeople, the Stolls want to explore, and so on. Orientation is pretty high on the list today too." He left the Great Hall.

Everybody quickly started talking again, trying to make sense of this new turn of events. I turned to Ron and Hermione. "Want to go to McGonagall after breakfast?" I asked.

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not." He downed another goblet of pumpkin juice.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron. But you're right, Harry, we should probably go after breakfast. It would be a disaster if we didn't manage to get in, just because we were late."

After breakfast, the three of us headed for McGonagall's office. "Yes, Potter, Weasley, Granger?" she asked, after looking up.

"We'd like to sign up for the demigods' class, Physical Combat and Defence," said Hermione.

McGonagall shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't help with that, Miss Granger. You see, the demigods specifically stated that they were going to pick their own students. Your best bet will be to go to the Great Hall at two o'clock today, where they said they would pick their fifth year students. Also, they wanted me to tell you that it's quite unlikely they'll get anywhere today except for picking weaponry, and that there is a high chance of homework today. That's all I have to say."

"A high chance of homework, when we aren't even going to get anything done?" Those were Ron's first words as we came out of her office.

"Oh, who cares. I'm still going," I said, feeling another spike of irritation. Why wasn't anything getting done?

* * *

The morning was absolutely agonising. We took turns staring out of Gryffindor Tower's window and playing wizard chess. It ended up as a tournament between Hermione and me, since Ron simply destroyed us with every move. Hermione ended up winning after her knight snuck around and killed my queen.

We were joined by Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati as the morning wore on. I guessed they had all tried to apply also, and McGonagall had told them the same thing she told us, because there were similarly frustrated looks on their faces.

Finally, the bell chimed for one o'clock. I almost sank to the floor in relief. Finally, only one more hour. I decided to go up to my dorms and check the Marauders' Map to see where the demigods were.

"_I solemnly swear I am up to no good_," I whispered to the Map as the spidery ink lines appeared again.

After a while, I wondered if the demigods were joking, or if McGonagall had gotten the date wrong. I would have expected them to be setting up their class by now, but the demigods were scattered all over the castle. Some weren't even on the Map at all. I spotted Annabeth in the library, Hazel on the grounds, Lou in the potions dungeon, Leo in a classroom along the Charms corridor and Nico and Frank in Umbridge's office. Oddly enough, Umbridge wasn't there. I was left wondering what the hell he was doing in there.

The other demigods were all _not_ on the Map. Either they were too far outside to be detected, or they were in somewhere the Map didn't know. I decided to take the second option.

"_Mischief managed_," I said.

"That's a nice map you've got," a voice suddenly said from the shadows. I jumped and spun around, my wand pointed at the intruder… who happened to be Nico di Angelo. He was holding a ruined image of a pink-framed cat.

"Uh… why are you holding that?" I asked lamely.

Nico shrugged. "Toad's place is entirely pink. I figured some redecoration would be nice." With those strange words, he melted back into the shadows. I glanced at the map again. It was blank.

_How did Nico di Angelo know that it was a map_? I wondered. Had someone told him? Doubtful.

I checked the map again, despite the fact that I doubted anything would have changed. To my surprise, Umbridge's office was now completely covered by a mass of black dots. Strangely enough, they didn't have names attached to them, as if the Map couldn't figure out their names.

The bell rang, loud and clear. I realised with a jolt that it was now two o'clock. I hastily shoved the map (now blank) into my trunk, and bolted down the stairs.

"Come on, Harry!" said Hermione, already going through the portrait hole. I followed her out.

We hurried along to the Great Hall. On our way, we were joined by an outbreak of people from all four houses. Apparently they all wanted to do the Physical Combat and Defence too. I suppose having a spar in the Great Hall works wonders for advertising.

When we walked into the Great Hall, I blinked again. It had been completely transformed – so that we were now standing in a place that looked like a forest glade. I had to turn and look at the doors to make sure I hadn't been hallucinating.

"This must be some really advanced magic," murmured Hermione. Glowing circles had been drawn onto the floor, twenty or so. They were all pretty large, and seemed to radiate a kind of intensity. I wasn't sure how a glowing chalk circle could do that, but… well.

Six demigods came in – Will, Piper, Annabeth, Jason, Lou and Malcolm. I was rather surprised – I'd thought they'd _all_ be taking the class, not just only six. Thalia wasn't here, so I wasn't sure whether or not Seamus would win his bet on her being a bow instructor. They were all dressed in T-shirts and jeans instead of the Hogwarts standard uniform.

"All right," said Annabeth, taking charge. "I'm sure you've all received the information your professors gave you. Is that correct?"

We all nodded in response. Some of us mumbled a 'yes'. Annabeth didn't seem fazed at all by the lack of response.

"That's good. Well, then, everybody who spends hours on their hair, clothing and nails – get out." We all blinked, instantly attentive.

"What?" some people asked.

"You heard me," answered Annabeth. "Anybody who is beauty obsessed, out."

Several girls muttered uncomfortably before filing out of the doors. I was surprised at the rather abrupt dismissal. Apparently Annabeth had experience with girls who spent hours on their hair and knew they weren't good fighters. By the expression on Piper's face, she agreed with Annabeth. Which I supposed was a bit odd, since her mother was the goddess of beauty. Wow, I can't believe I remembered something from Muggle school. But wouldn't she be just like the girls that had been sent out – preening and proud of her looks? Then again, she didn't seem like the kind of person to go and spend hours on her make-up. I wondered if she defined what children of Aphrodite were or what they could be.

As if in answer to my silent pondering, Piper took over. "Anybody that can't wake up in the mornings, get out. We will occasionally expect you to be up and ready at six o'clock in the morning. Leave if you don't think you can do this." More people filed out, muttering. Ron looked uncertain as to whether or not he should join them.

That left five Gryffindors, four Hufflepuffs, six Ravenclaws and three Slytherins. Eighteen of us in total.

Lou took over from Piper. "So, you guys think that you'll be able to wake up early, and not spend time on your beauty regime. That's good. This class is mostly practical, but we will expect you to hand in homework from time to time. This is your first piece of homework – write down everything you've achieved, be they academically or otherwise, in your time here at Hogwarts. We expect at least three feet of parchment, considering you've been here now for five years. I don't care if it's something as simple as memorising _One Hundred Magical Herbs and Fungi_ or as embarrassing as being turned into a pumpkin. Write it down. That will help us decide what you are and how best to help you. And don't worry, no house points will be deducted for misbehaviour or anything." I stared; sure, McGonagall had mentioned homework, but I hadn't realised she was serious. And _everything_ I'd ever done at Hogwarts? That was a lot.

"I know today's the first lesson, but this is important in determining who you are and what you are suited to. Just do it. We expect it to be in by next lesson. Check tomorrow's timetables." She stepped back and waved her hand.

A variety of weapons suddenly appeared on the floor; an assortment of bows, swords, spears and daggers. They were piled haphazardly on the floor, and I had the sudden feeling that if I tried to get something from the pile I would be stabbed in about a dozen places.

Malcolm split us into six groups of three, mixing the houses. I ended up with Padma Patil from Ravenclaw and Daphne Greengrass from Slytherin. It was an awkward group; I could literally feel the hostilities. Ron was with Justin Finch-Fletchley and Michael Corner, while Hermione was placed with Hannah Abbott and Dean.

Our group was sent to the weapons pile last. We were simply told to pick up a weapon and stand in one of the glowing circles; any weapon at all. I glanced at the weapons before I picked up a long knife. The hilt was wrapped in black leather, and there was a crystal set in it.

The demigods then proceeded to show us how to wield a bow, spear, sword or knife. I was rather surprised to learn that there were different grips; I'd thought all you had to do was hold on to the hilt and stab.

Annabeth told us then to try to use the weapons, using the grips. "If the feel is wrong," she said, "just go take another one from the pile. If it's too heavy, find a lighter one, and vice versa."

The knife felt unbalanced in my hands, as if it was too short. When I mentioned this to Malcolm, he smiled.

"Try a sword," was his simple answer.

I ended up trying six different swords before I found one that wasn't too heavy for me to lift. It was made out of a material that seemed suspiciously close to bone, but since it was the only one I felt was right, I shrugged off the uncomfortable fact.

After about ten minutes of everyone learning how to hold their weapons that little bit better, dummies appeared in the circles of those with swords, knives and spears, while a target appeared for the people holding a bow. The archers were relocated (thankfully) to the other side of the hall. I wasn't sure whether they'd end up shooting me by mistake.

Will and Lou went to help the archers, while Piper, Annabeth, Jason and Malcolm taught the rest of us how to slice and parry. The goal of this lesson was to learn the quickest way to kill an immobile enemy. I felt like I was getting it when, during my fifth turn, I managed to slice the head off the dummy in a single stroke.

I didn't realise how fast the time had passed until Piper told us to stop and I realised how tired my arms were. They were more than ready to just drop off.

We stepped out of our glowing circles and sat down on a bunch of Conjured cushions. Annabeth started off by announcing next lesson's goals.

"So, today you learned the very, very basics of weaponry. Next time, we'll keep building on those basics. We'll also teach the factors of war next lesson, so next time it will be half practical, half theory. This is to rest your muscles. Over time, you'll be able to spar every lesson and not feel as if your arms were drowned in burning lead afterwards."

"Next lesson, we'll teach you how to be more accurate if you're an archer, and what stance you should take if you're a sword, knife or spear fighter. For theory, we'll introduce the tactics of war, and how to win against armies that are better than you. We expect the homework back by next lesson, too. That will be crucial in determining your strengths and weaknesses and how to seal those weaknesses. Please get a name tag and stick your name onto your weapon so you don't have to go searching for it next time."

I grabbed a quill from the table and scribbled my name onto the name tag, before attaching it to my sword. Everybody else did the same, before all the weapons glowed and vanished.

"Ten points to all houses for hard work and diligence," Piper suddenly said. The rattling of gemstones indicated that she had been recognised by the castle's wards as a teacher.

We left the Great Hall after that. I was utterly exhausted as I trudged back to Gryffindor Tower with Ron and Hermione – both of whom seemed knackered as well.

"That," Ron finally said when we reached the common room and slumped onto armchairs, "was the worst experience of my life. But I enjoyed it too."

"I can't wait for the next one," said Hermione. "I actually picked up the knife skills quite quickly. I suppose chopping vegetables makes it easier."

"Although, next time we have this pile of homework," I pointed out.

Ron groaned. "Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber, then third year and Si-Snuffles," he amended, before stopping. "Wait, what do we say about Snuffles? Do we leave him out?"

"Duh," I said. "They might be here to help with Voldemort, but even so someone might see what we're writing and then we'd be in trouble."

"Fair enough," conceded Hermione. "You know, I am very, very glad they put in that provision about house points. I don't want to know how many we'd lose if it hadn't been for that. We broke loads of rules in first year alone, never mind second year and the Polyjuice Potion."

I grimaced at the reminder. "Yeah. You want to get started on that homework?"

"With my arms like this? No way, Harry," Ron said.

"For once, I agree. I'm going to put this off until tomorrow," said Hermione.

I just stared, shocked that Hermione was putting off homework. She rolled her eyes. "If you think I'm going to do this when my arms are jelly, Harry, think again."

So we spent the rest of the afternoon slumped on the armchairs, playing Gobstones and laughing every time they squirted ink into Ron's face.

* * *

**So, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter - the first lesson of Physical Combat and Defense! R&R!  
**

**~Olympusseriesisawesome**

**P.S. Let's just leave it at, school started a day late to let the demigods get orientated.**


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